By Alishba I. Kassim
Impunity Watch Reporter, Asia

GENEVA, Switzerland – UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon has been leading international calls to encourage restraint in China in the face of the recent riots. The riots in China’s Xinjiang region have killed at least 140 people. The violence erupted as China’s leader started a visit to Italy ahead of the Group of Eight industrialized powers summit.

Chinese state media reported that thousands of people fought with police and set fires to vehicles in the city of Urumqi. Uighur Muslims, native to the region, have rejected Beijing’s accusations that they organized the riots.

“Wherever it is happening or has happened the position of the United Nations and the secretary general has been consistent and clear: that all the differences of opinion, whether domestic or international, must be resolved peacefully through dialogue,” the UN chief told the press speaking about the riots in Xinjiang. He further added that “Governments concerned must also exercise extreme care and take necessary measures to protect the life and safety of the civilian population and their citizens and their properties, and protect freedom of speech, freedom of assembly and freedom of information.”

Italy’s President, Giorgio Napolitano raised the issue of human rights to China’s President, Hu Jintao. “We agreed that the…economic and social progress that is being achieved in China places new demands in terms of human rights,” Napolitano said at a news conference with the Chinese President. Britain also joined Italy’s President in urging China to show restraint.

The violence involved thousands of people in Xinjiang, home to ethnic Muslim Uighurs, who have long complained of repressive Chinese rule.