Beijing (CNN) -- Chinese authorities on Wednesday formally charged a prominent Uyghur scholar with "separatism" months after his detention, state-run Xinhua news agency reported. Ilham Tohti, an economics professor at Beijing's Minzu University, was detained by police in January and taken to his native Xinjiang, China's restive northwestern region where a spate of recent violent incidents have been blamed by the government on Uyghur separatists seeking to establish an independent state. Just a day earlier, Xinhua cited local police as saying that a gang wielding knives and axes attacked civilians, a police station, government offices and smashed vehicles on Monday in southern Xinjiang, killing and injuring dozens. The government called the incident an "organized and premeditated" terrorist attack and said police officers at the scene shot dead dozens of people in the mob, according to Xinhua.
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Formal charge against Ilham Tohti comes a day after violence in southern Xinjiang
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Tohti went on a hunger strike during his incarceration in January
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Uyghur-Han relations are a focus of Tohti's research
The police statement also said Tohti had taught students about "violent Uyghur resistance" in his class and encouraged them to overthrow the @placeholder government.