Protesters arrested after stoning Chinese embassy
Dutch police arrested 142 demonstrators Monday after they threw stones at China's embassy in the Netherlands during a protest linked to the violence in China's Xinjiang province, authorities said.
Television images showed protesters in The Hague clambering up railings outside the embassy and throwing stones, smashing windows. A small group of men burned a Chinese flag. Dozens of police were shown running to the scene and handcuffing protesters. No injuries were immediately reported.
About 200 people took part in Monday's protest against Chinese policies inXinjiang province in The Hague. Gheyretjan Rozi of the Dutch Uighur Support Group said the demonstration was peaceful until protesters saw somebody taking photos of them from inside the embassy.
"Some of the Uighurs got angry, we couldn't control them," Rozi told AP press agency in a telephone interview from inside a Hague police station where he had been taken. Rozi said he did not know whether the protesters were to be charged.
The Chinese embassy could not be reached Monday for comment on Rozi's claim. Its website carried a message saying that its consular section would be closed Tuesday "for security reasons."
A police spokesperson initially said 60 people were arrested for disturbing
the peace and were taken from the scene by bus. A police statement issued
later said 142 people were arrested. The nationality or ethnicity of those
detained was not released.
The Dutch government said Tuesday it will pay for repairs to China's embassy in The Hague, which was damaged in a protest against Beijing's crackdown on separatists in Xinjiang province.
Foreign minister Maxime Verhagen apologized to China's top diplomat in the Netherlands for the violence by the protesters, mostly members of the Muslim Uighur ethnic group living in the Netherlands.
The Dutch protest came after reports that street battles have killed at least
140 people and injured hundreds in the deadliest ethnic unrest to hit
China's western Xinjiang region in decades. The riots followed discord
between ethnic Muslim Uighur people and China's Han majority.
In the provincial capital, Urumqi, rioters on Sunday overturned barricades,
attacking vehicles and houses, and clashed with police, according to media
and witness accounts. State television aired footage showing protesters
attacking and kicking people on the ground. Other people, who appeared to be
Han Chinese, sat dazed with blood pouring down their faces.
Rozi said about 450-600 Uighurs live in the Netherlands. He said he believed
Uighurs around the world planned to demonstrate outside Chinese embassies to
protest the violence in Xinjiang.
Damages
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