Police have evidence of World Uyghur Congress masterminding Xinjiang riot

Police in northwest China's Xinjiang region said Monday they have evidence that the separatist World Uyghur Congress led by Rebiya Kadeer masterminded the Sunday riot that left 156 people dead.

An unidentified spokesman of the Xinjiang regional department of public security said some people used "a number of telephones outside the country" to direct mobs in Xinjiang to stage the violence.

Police have obtained recordings of calls between overseas Eastern Turkestan groups and their accomplices in the country, the officer said.

In the recorded calls, Rebiya Kadeer said, "Something will happen in Urumqi." She also called her younger brother in Urumqi, saying, "We know a lot of things have happened," referring to the June 26 brawl involving workers from Xinjiang in a toy factory in Guangdong Province.

The spokesman said some people started posting calls on Internet forums for demonstrations in Urumqi Saturday evening, in support of protests to be held by overseas separatists.

Within hours after the violence broke out Sunday, Dilxat Raxit, a spokesman for the World Uyghur Congress, said all Uygurs were ordered off the streets and armed soldiers seized every Uygur if seen in the streets. The spokesman of Xinjiang police said Dilxat Raxit's remarks were lies that could be easily exposed by people who suffered from the violence.

The World Uyghur Congress also used the factory brawl between Uygur and Han ethnic workers, in which two Uygurs died, to create chaos.