(For more stories click [ID:nXINJIANG]) By Ben Blanchard SHANGHAI, July 7 (Reuters) - Chinese are venting their anger online after ethnic unrest in the Muslim region of Xinjiang left at least 156 dead but are playing a cat-and-mouse game with censors who appear to be removing some posts and blogs. Many of the comments demanded swift punishment for those involved, echoing remarks in official state media blaming exiled Uighur activist Rebiya Kadeer for masterminding the riots in Urumqi on Sunday. Almost half of Xinjiang's 20 million people are Muslim Uighurs, but they have long complained Han Chinese reap most of the benefits from official investment and subsidies, while making Uighurs -- a Turkic, largely Islamic people who share linguistic and cultural bonds with Central Asia -- feel like outsiders. Along with Tibet, Xinjiang is one of the most politically sensitive regions in China and in both places the government has sought to maintain its grip by controlling religious and cultural life while promising economic growth and prosperity. "Destroy the conspiracy, strike hard against these saboteurs, and strike even more fiercely than before," according to an anonymous posting on a blog by a person known as "Chang Qing" on portal www.sina.com.cn. Some warned Hans, China's predominant ethnic group, would take revenge. "The blood debt will be repaid. Han compatriots unite and rise up," wrote "Jason" on search engine www.baidu.com. Others have sought to invoke the spirit of Wang Zhen, the Chinese general who is reviled and feared by many Uighurs for the repression when he led Communist troops into Xinjiang in 1949 to bring it into the newly formed People's Republic of China. "Study this hard," wrote one posting above a potted history of Wang apparently taken from a Chinese history book. Still, a few people appealed for greater understanding of Uighur grievances. "If your family members have no rights, no power, are discriminated against and made fun of, not only will your family collapse, you will already have sown the seeds of hatred," wrote "Bloody Knife". One person, called "zfc883919" and writing on Xinjiang portal www.tianya.cn, said he did not understand how the police could have let the death toll rise so high. "What on earth were you doing? That was 156 living beings. I hope relevant authorities really learn a lesson, so that this kind of tragedy is not repeated." Yet authorities have been working fast to remove comments about the violence, apparently to prevent ethnic hatred from spreading or Internet users questioning government policies towards regions populated by ethnic minorities. Many blogs have simply posted articles from the domestic media about the unrest, but in the section where readers are invited to leave their thoughts is written: "There are no comments at this time" -- unusual, given the popularity of blogs in China with 300 million Internet users. Some sites which had posted graphic images of beaten and bloody bodies, purportedly taken during or after the riots, also had them swiftly removed. (Editing by Benjamin Kang Lim)
A protester wearing a traditional eastern Turkestan hat shouts during a demonstration in Istanbul, to protest against the deadly riot in China's northwestern region of Xinjiang July 6, 2009. At least ...
