Thousands of people have demonstrated in Turkey in support of China's ethnic Uighur minority, a week after ethnic violence left at least 184 people dead in western China.Witnesses say at least 5,000 people took to the streets of Istanbul Sunday in a demonstration organized by an Islamic party.
The protesters denounced China's treatment of the Uighurs, whose Muslim religion and Turkic language link them more to their Central Asian neighbors than to China's ethnic Han majority.
A similar demonstration took place in the Japanese capital, Tokyo, Sunday.
The plight of the Uighurs drew international attention after clashes erupted between Uighurs and Han Chinese in China's Xinjiang province on July 5.
China's official Xinhua news agency reported Sunday that 1,680 people were wounded in the violence.
Chinese officials have blamed the unrest on what they call separatist and terrorist groups. The Uighurs say the violence erupted when authorities provoked a peaceful demonstration, turning it into a riot.
Chinese authorities say 137 of the victims were Han, but Uighurs say many more of their people died than is being reported.
Clerics in Iran condemned Beijing on Sunday for its treatment of the Muslims in Xinjiang.
Iran is a close ally of China. But Grand Ayatollah Makarem-Shirazi said this should not keep Tehran quiet about what he called the "brutal suppression" of its Muslim brothers and sisters.
China's Uighurs have complained for years of religious and cultural persecution, and say an influx of Han Chinese in the area is taking away their economic opportunities.
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