CBC News | Last Updated: Monday, July 6, 2009 | 9:27 AM ET

Chinese soldiers stand guard at a junction in the centre of Urumqi in Xinjiang province. (Nir Elias/Reuters)

Protesters from the Uighur ethnic group took to the streets in a second city in northwestern China on Monday, a day after a demonstration in the provincial capital turned into a riot that left 140 dead.

A Uighur man in the city of Kashgar in Xinjiang province said he was among more than 300 protesters who demonstrated outside the Id Kah Mosque late Monday afternoon, The Associated Press reported.

He said police surrounded them, and the two sides were yelling at each other but there were no clashes.

The Uighurs — an ethnically Turkic, predominantly Muslim group — make up the majority in the Xinjiang region and their relations have often been tense with the ethnic Han Chinese who predominate in the country as a whole. Many Uighurs feel they’re discriminated against by the government in Beijing and a Uighur separatist movement has existed for decades.

The latest protests started in the provincial capital of Urumqi on Sunday, when demonstrators gathered to demand justice for two Uighurs killed in June during a fight with their Han co-workers at a factory in southern China.

The protests turned into the deadliest ethnic unrest to hit the region in decades.

Photos and video posted on the internet showed the city in flames, as rioters went on a rampage, clashing with police and rolling over police cars.

Chinese television showed pictures of severely beaten women with blood gushing from their faces, CBC’s Anthony Germain reported.

The state media reported large mobs carrying knives, wooden batons and bricks gathered last night and started to attack passersby. The reports claimed the mob started to torch businesses and shops in the area.

“There are no details of the police response to the violence but in Xinjiang, the Chinese police often react swiftly and with deadly force,” Germain said.

Some streets remained blockaded and armed police were on patrol attempting to restore order.

Many Uighur organizations claim Beijing persecutes Muslims with the aim of wiping out their religion and allege none of the jobs in the region’s lucrative oil industry ever go to Muslims.

The Communist government has said it is trying to snuff out terrorist activities in the region and is blaming the riots on what they call “Muslim traitors,” who the government claims are trying to destabilize the country.

With files from The Associated Press

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