A decade ago a Han Chinese woman was sexually assaulted by Uyghur migrant workers in a toy factory in Shaoguan, in China's south-east.
In response, some Chinese workers cornered and beat Uyghurs in the factory, killing two of them.
News of the attacks spread swiftly online and, almost 4,000 kilometers away in the north-western region of Xinjiang, ethnic tensions reached boiling point.
Uyghur students staged a demonstration in Urumqi that turned violent, and Chinese authorities reported that 197 people — the majority of them Han Chinese — were killed and 1,700 people were injured.
In the following days, mobs of Han Chinese people took to the streets with sticks and metal bars, meting out revenge in attacks on Uyghurs.
The Chinese Government said the July 5 incident was a "serious and violent crime" that had partly been "plotted and incited" by forces outside China and resulted in the loss of innocent lives.
After the incident, authorities "took decisive measures in accordance with law to ease the tension, protect local people's safety and property, and maintain social stability".
Those measures are the Camps and mass incarceration, and suppression of communication among Uyghurs.