[5] The event was widely cited as the cause of the July 2009 Ürümqi riots, which some believe began as a peaceful street protest demanding official action over the two Uyghurs who were killed in Shaoguan.
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 labor contracts.
[13] Li Qiang, 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 the existing mistrust between the Han and Uyghurs.
[19] An initial disturbance was reported at around 11 pm when security guards responded to a call for help by a female worker who felt intimidated by several chanting male Uyghurs.
The Guardian reported that video of the riots and photographs of the victims were quickly circulated on the internet by Uyghur 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.
[10] Xinhua reported that Guangdong authorities had arrested two people who are suspected of having spread rumors online which alleged sexual assault of Han women had taken place.
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 screamed when I saw those Uyghur young men in the room...
[8] The Baitu factory is now reported to be a Uyghur enclave, with, sporting facilities, canteen serving Xinjiang food, a round-the-clock staff clinic, and plain-clothed police officers in their midst.
[8][28] 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.
[20] Abdukeyum Muhammat, deputy secretary of Xinjiang kanji Prefectural Committee of the Communist Party, led a working team to Shaoguan on 27 June.
[8] On 5 August, Xinhua reported that Chinese police had arrested Kurban Khayum, a chef at an Arabic restaurant in Guangzhou who they claimed confessed to being an agent for the World Uygur Congress (WUC) and who allegedly spread rumors that were later used as a pretext to trigger the Ürümqi riots of 5 July.
On the same day, the People's Court of Wujiang District, Shaoguan, jailed three more Han workers and three Uyghurs for participating in the brawl; they were sentenced to five to seven years imprisonment.