Web reacts to Chinese riots

Coming days after protests over alleged election fraud in Iran, the web has again been central to disseminating both sides of the story in the wake of deadly riots in China.

News about the riots in Xinjiang, which reportedly have left more than 140 people dead, has been filtered within China.

The press agency AFP reported that the Twitter and YouTube websites have both been blocked in China.

News of the unrest appears to have first broken on Twitter, when an American academic posted information about the riots hours before it had been picked up by state-run news organisations.

The authorities have been racing to block or delete videos of independent footage taken during the deadly riots which were sparked during a demonstration by Uighurs.

Under China's so-called Great Firewall the internet is routinely censored and websites are blocked and taken offline.

Conflicting reports say that Muslim Uighurs were responsible for the violence while other reports say authorities opened fire on the demonstrators.

Videos on YouTube show protesters marching peacefully, other footage shows police leading away protesters in handcuffs.

Much of the footage is low grade and has not been verified.

Similar to last month's turmoil in Iran, people have been using the web to upload videos, photos and reports from the isolated region in China's north west.

The material has been picked up and reposted around the web.