The BBC are reporting that the clash in Guangdong province last month (n the city of Shaoguan) was caused by a man who posted a message on a local website claiming six boys from Xinjiang had “raped two innocent girls”.

Police said the false claim sparked a vicious brawl between Han and Uighur ethnic groups at a factory. Two Uighurs were killed and 118 other people were injured.

As for the riots in Urumqi, Uighur groups are insisting that their protest was peaceful and had fallen victim to state violence, with police firing indiscriminately on protesters in Urumqi.

Dolkun Isa, a spokesman for the World Uyghur Congress (WUC) in Munich, disputed the official figures, saying the protest was 10,000 strong and that 600 people were killed. He rejected official reports on Xinhua that it had instigated the protests.