TOKYO - More than 500 supporters of China's ethnic minority Uighurs on Sunday rallied in Tokyo as the Chinese authorities banned public gatherings in restive Urumqi city after ethnic violence.

Some 50 Uighur expatriates and hundreds of their Japanese supporters marched through the capital, chanting: "China stop genocide! Free Uighur!"

"The Chinese authorities have announced that a majority of the victims of the violence last Sunday were Han Chinese, even though (we heard that) the Chinese police indiscriminately shot gunfire at demonstrators," said Ilham Mahmut, president of the Japan Uighur Association, who led the rally.

Chinese state media says 184 people died, most of them Han, in the unrest on Sunday in Xinjiang's capital of Urumqi.

Demonstrators in Tokyo distributed fliers to passers-by which asked for their signatures to an open letter to Chinese President Hu Jintao.

The letter said: "We call on the Chinese authorities to immediately cease its propaganda campaign on state media which solely blames the Uyghurs (Uighurs) for the violence."

"By suppressing the truth, the Chinese government is only further exacerbating the longstanding grievances of the Uyghur people and sewing the seeds for further discontent," it said.

Uighurs rampaged through the streets and attacked Han Chinese during the unrest, according to victims and witnesses AFP reporters spoke with in Urumqi and graphic footage broadcast by China's state-run television.

Exiled Uighur leaders insist last Sunday's protests were peaceful until security forces over-reacted with deadly force, and that further deaths have occurred following Sunday's unrest.

Residents of China's Urumqi city were banned from gathering in public places on Sunday for a traditional day of mourning.