 = Shaoguan incident = 
 
 The Shaoguan incident was a civil disturbance which took place overnight on 25 / 26 June 2009 in Guangdong province , China . A violent dispute erupted between migrant Uyghurs and Han workers at a toy factory in Shaoguan as a result of allegations of the sexual assault of a Han female . Groups of Han set upon Uyghur co @-@ workers , leading to at least two Uyghurs being killed , ( Uyghur workers who witnessed the incident report at least 100 dead and 400 wounded ) and some 118 people injured . 
 The event was widely cited as the trigger event for July 2009 Ürümqi riots , which ostensibly started as a peaceful street protest demanding official action over the two Uyghurs who died in Shaoguan . Following trials in October 2009 , one person was executed and several others sentenced to terms between life imprisonment and five to seven years . 
 
 = = Background = = 
 
 The factory where the incident took place is the <unk> ( " Early Light " ) Toy Factory ( <unk> ) , owned by Hong Kong @-@ based Early Light International ( Holdings ) Ltd . , the largest toy manufacturer in the world . The company 's Shaoguan factory in the <unk> district employs some 16 @,@ 000 workers . At the behest of the Guangdong authorities , it hired 800 workers from Kashgar , in Xinjiang as part of an ethnic program which relocated 200 @,@ 000 young Uyghurs since the start of 2008 . According to The Guardian , most workers sign a <unk> to three @-@ year contract then travel to factory dormitories in the south ; in addition to their salaries ranging from 1 @,@ 000 yuan to 1 @,@ 400 yuan a month , many get free board and lodging . Most of these <unk> are away from home to work for the first time . The Far Eastern Economic Review said Guangdong authorities initiated a controversial plan to ship [ Uyghur ] workers to Guangdong factories amid continuing labour shortages . The young workers , whose families have charged that they were forced to send their children south , often lack even basic Chinese language skills and find it difficult to fit in with the dominant Han culture . " The New York Times quoted Xinjiang Daily saying in May that 70 percent of the young Uyghurs had " signed up for employment voluntarily . " However , Kashgar residents say the families of those who refuse to go are threatened with fines of up to six months ' worth of a <unk> 's income . 
 An official in charge of ethnic and religious affairs in Guangdong said that the province had hired <unk> , aged from 18 to 29 , in May . A small group of Uyghurs arrived on 2 May , and workers at the factory remarked that relations between the two groups deteriorated as the number of Uyghurs increased . State media confirmed that all the workers were from <unk> County . China Labor Watch reported that workers at the Shaoguan factory , where the Uyghurs were employed , earned 28 yuan per day compared with 41 @.@ 3 yuan in its factory in <unk> . They noted that rights of workers , Han and Uyghur alike , were frequently violated by verbal abuse from factory supervisors , unpaid overtime , poor dormitory conditions and illegal labour contracts . Li <unk> , executive director of China Labor Watch said that low pay , long hours and poor working conditions combined with the inability to communicate with their colleagues exacerbated deeply held <unk> between the Han and Uyghurs . 
 
 = = Causes and events = = 
 
 <unk> on 25 – 26 June , tensions flared at the factory , leading to a full @-@ blown ethnic brawl between Uyghurs and Han . As a result of the fighting , 2 Uyghurs died and 118 people were injured , 16 of them seriously . Of the injured , 79 were Uyghurs and 39 were Hans . 400 police and 50 anti @-@ riot vehicles were mobilised . 
 Official sources state that the rioting began at around 2 a.m. , and there were reports that they lasted until at least 4 @.@ 30 a.m. , when police arrived . An initial disturbance was reported at around 11 p.m. when security guards responded to a call for help by a female worker who felt intimidated by several chanting male Uyghurs . Two dozen Han workers armed with <unk> and metal rods then responded ; they called for backup using their phones . 
 Uyghurs maintained that the attacks started after the night shift at around 12 @.@ 30 a.m. , when Han <unk> stormed into Uyghur dormitories and started indiscriminate and <unk> <unk> . Amateur videos posted online showed brutal attacks , and Han chasing Uyghurs through the <unk> floors . One man said that he saw that security had been overwhelmed by the arrival of outside gangs ; he said it was common knowledge that the outsiders brought in <unk> . Han and Uyghur witnesses interviewed by the foreign press thought the casualties had been understated by the authorities : a Han claimed to have killed seven or eight Uyghurs ; Uyghurs cited " merciless " assaults on those already in ambulances . The rioting stopped soon after the police arrived . A policeman explained their delay in arriving at the scene due to difficulties in assembling enough officers . The two dead men were later named as <unk> <unk> and <unk> <unk> , both from Xinjiang . 
 
 = = = <unk> rumours = = = 
 
 The rioting was sparked by allegations of sexual assault on Han women by Uyghurs , and rumours of an incident in which two female Han workers were sexually assaulted by six Uyghur co @-@ workers at the factory , according to Voice of America . The authorities said that the rumours were false , and had been initiated by a <unk> former co @-@ worker . Xinhua said that a man <unk> Zhu " <unk> the information to express his discontent " over failing to find new work after quitting his job at the factory . 
 
 = = Responses = = 
 
 Police said that their investigations found no evidence that a rape had taken place . Shaoguan government spokesman Wang <unk> , called it " a very ordinary incident " , which he said had been exaggerated to foment <unk> Guardian reported that video of the riots and photographs of the victims were quickly circulated on the internet by <unk> exile groups , along with claims that the death toll was under @-@ reported and the police were slow to act ; protests in Ürümqi were assembled by email . Xinhua reported that Guangdong authorities had arrested two people who are suspected of having spread rumours online which alleged sexual assault of Han women had taken place . In addition , it reported on 7 July 2009 that 13 suspects had been taken into custody following the incident , of which 3 were Uyghurs from Xinjiang . Xinhua quoted 23 @-@ year @-@ old Huang <unk> saying that he was angry at being turned down for a job in June at the toy factory , and thus posted an article at a forum on <unk> on 16 June which alleged six Xinjiang boys had raped two innocent girls at the <unk> Toy Factory ; Huang <unk> , 19 , was detained for writing on his online chat space on 28 June that eight Xinjiang people had died in the factory fight . Kang <unk> , vice director with the Shaoguan Public Security Bureau , said that the offenders would face up to 15 days in administrative detention . 
 On 8 July 2009 , Xinhua released an interview with Huang <unk> , the " Han girl " whose alleged rape triggered the disturbances . The 19 @-@ year @-@ old trainee from rural Guangdong , who had worked at the factory less than two months , said : " I was lost and entered the wrong dormitory and <unk> when I saw those Uyghur young men in the room ... I just felt they were <unk> so I turned and ran . " She recounted how one of them stood up and stamped his feet as if to chase her . " I later realized that he was just making fun of me . " She said she only found out hours later that she was the cause of the violence . 
 Shaoguan authorities moved the Uyghur workers to temporary accommodation , and the workers were transferred on 7 July to another facility belonging to Early Light , 30 km away in <unk> town . The <unk> factory is now reported to be an Uyghur <unk> , with , sporting facilities , canteen serving Xinjiang food , a round @-@ the @-@ clock staff clinic , and plain @-@ clothed police officers in their midst . According to the South China Morning Post , the Kashgar staff were apparently unable to mix with colleagues in their previous location because of the language barrier – a local shop worker estimated that less than one in three spoke Mandarin . Two months on , the South China Morning Post found few willing to talk about the events of the <unk> night . The authorities ' claims that 50 Uyghur workers were granted their repatriation requests following the violence are contested by Uyghur workers . 
 <unk> <unk> , deputy secretary of Xinjiang <unk> <unk> Committee of the Communist Party , led a working team to Shaoguan on 27 June . Zhou <unk> , Politburo Standing Committee member responsible for security , reportedly visited Shaoguan in early September 2009 . On 5 August , Xinhua reported that Chinese police had arrested <unk> <unk> , a chef at an Arabic restaurant in <unk> who they claimed confessed to being an agent for the World <unk> Congress ( <unk> ) and who allegedly spread rumours that were later used as a pretext to trigger the Ürümqi riots of 5 July . Xinhua alleged that he had fabricated a report that " the factory brawl had caused the death of 17 to 18 people , including three females , " which he sent in an e @-@ mail to <unk> <unk> . 
 At a trial on 10 October at Shaoguan Intermediate People 's Court , <unk> <unk> ( <unk> ) was sentenced to death for being the " principal instigator " of the violence and Xu <unk> ( <unk> ) was given a life sentence for <unk> ; three other people were sentenced to seven to eight years for assault . On the same day , the People 's Court of <unk> District , Shaoguan , jailed three more Han workers and three Uyghurs for participating in the brawl ; they were sentenced to five to seven years ' imprisonment . 
 
 