Police restore order in western China; 156 killed

Tuesday 07th July, 06:00 AM JST

URUMQI, China —

Chanting “Strike down the criminals,” hundreds of paramilitary police with shields, rifles and clubs took control of the streets Monday in the capital of western China’s Muslim region, a day after the deadliest ethnic violence in decades.

State media said at least 156 people were killed in the unrest, which did not bode well for China’s efforts to mollify long-simmering ethnic tensions between the minority Uighur people and the ethnic Han Chinese in Xinjiang—a sprawling region three times the size of Texas that shares borders with Pakistan, Afghanistan and other Central Asian countries.

As darkness fell, security forces became especially tense and ordered residents off the roads near the main gate at Xinjiang University—the scene of some of the worst clashes Sunday.

As people watched from an apartment building across from the school, riot police in green camouflage uniforms and helmets pointed long sticks at the gawkers and barked, “Close those windows!”

Mobile phone service and the social networking site Twitter were blocked, and Internet links were also cut or slowed down. Some videos were posted on YouTube.

The government often says the Uighurs should be grateful for the roads, railways, schools, hospitals and oil fields it has been building in Xinjiang, a region known for scorching deserts and snowy mountain ranges.

Many Uighurs haven’t been wooed by the rapid economic development. Some want independence, while others feel they’re being marginalized in their homeland. The Han—China’s ethnic majority—have been flooding into Xinjiang as the region becomes more developed.

A similar situation exists in Tibet, where a violent protest last year left many Tibetan communities living under clamped-down security ever since.

“The Han Chinese say we all belong to the same country. We’re all part of one big family,” said Memet, a restaurant worker who like other Uighurs declined to give his full name because he feared the police. “But the Han always treat us separately.”

A Han Chinese shopkeeper, who only gave his surname Wang because the ethnic issue is so sensitive, disagreed. “Those who cause such trouble are criminals,” he said. “They’re never happy with what they have.”

Sunday’s violence was notable because it happened in Xinjiang’s capital, Urumqi, which has been relatively peaceful and hasn’t been a hotbed of religious or political agitation. In other restive Xinjiang cities, red propaganda banners are filled with slogans encouraging ethnic harmony. But most of the banners in Urumqi touted anti-drug and fire prevention campaigns.

The population of 2.3 million is also overwhelmingly Han Chinese in the city, a mixture of drab concrete apartment blocks and gleaming new office towers.

The latest unrest began after 1,000 to 3,000 protesters—mostly students—gathered downtown at the People’s Square and protested the June 25 deaths of Uighur factory workers killed in a riot in southern China. The official Xinhua News Agency said two died; others say the real figure was higher.

“There were several hundred people who marched past my shop. I didn’t feel threatened. They were peaceful and chanting, ‘Uighurs will be victorious,’” said a convenience store clerk who only gave her surname, Zhang.

Poor quality amateur video purportedly showing a surging crowd of hundreds running through traffic. It was shot from an upper floor of a building and was posted on YouTube.

The police eventually showed up in force, and it’s unclear who struck first.

Rioters began flipping over barricades, smashing shop windows and burning cars, according to media and witness accounts. Glass still littered the sidewalks and streets that were eerily quiet Monday because most shops and office buildings were closed. A white car being towed away was splattered with blood, and there was a large red stain on the stone steps of a hotel in the biggest Uighur district.

State television video showed protesters attacking and kicking people on the ground, and the government said many Han Chinese were injured by rampaging Uighurs.

In the video, people who appeared to be Han Chinese sat dazed with blood pouring down their faces.

There was little immediate explanation for how so many people died. Xinhua News Agency said 156 died, but it didn’t give other details.

There were no independent figures on the ethnic breakdown of the casualties, but many were believed to be Uighurs.

Wu Nong, director of the news office of the Xinjiang provincial government, said 828 people were wounded, more than 260 vehicles were attacked or set on fire, and 203 shops were damaged.

Memet, the 36-year-old restaurant worker, said he saw People’s Armed Police attack Uighur students outside Xinjiang University.

“First they fired tear gas at the students. Then they started beating them and shooting them with bullets. Big trucks arrived, and students were rounded up and arrested,” he said.

Chinese officials singled out the leader of the U.S.-based Uyghur American Association—Rebiya Kadeer, a former prominent Xinjiang businesswoman now living in Washington—for inciting the violence.

“Rebiya had phone conversations with people in China on July 5 in order to incite, and websites ... were used to orchestrate the incitement and spread propaganda,” Xinjiang Gov Nur Bekri said Monday on television.

Xinjiang’s top Communist Party official, Wang Lequan, said: “We must tear away Rebiya’s mask and let the world see her true nature.”

The government has accused Kadeer of having a hand in many of Xinjiang’s problems since her release from prison into U.S. exile in 2005. The Foreign Ministry has publicly accused the 62-year-old of having links to the East Turkestan Islamic Movement, a group the U.S. put on its terrorist blacklist.

Beijing has not provided evidence to support the allegation, and Kadeer denies it. She has repeatedly called for nonviolent protest and the association condemned Sunday’s violence.

Witnesses reported a new, smaller protest Monday in a second city, Kashgar, home to the Id Kah Mosque, the biggest in Xinjiang.

In Urumqi, most Han Chinese stayed indoors and many Han taxi drivers refused to drive into Uighur neighborhoods, where the air was filled with the scent of lamb kebabs cooking over long grills. Although more Uighurs were on the streets, they said they were worried about being picked up by police, who were still arresting protest suspects.

“I went outside last night and saw all the chaos and went back inside,” said a Uighur office worker who only gave her given name, Guli. “I heard a lot of gunfire. Then today, the police were questioning people and visiting homes.

“My biggest fear is that I’ll say the wrong thing to the police, and then it will be all over for me,” Guli said, making a throat-slashing gesture with her hand.

Hundreds of paramilitary police sealed off a wide boulevard in front of the university, where witnesses said scores of protesters were killed. They chanted, “Strike down criminals, uphold the law.” In the evening, they dispersed crowds of Uighurs by yelling, “For your own safety, go home.”

As a middle-aged Uighur woman shuffled away, she said sarcastically under her breath, “It’s always safety first here.”

The paramilitary police then began marching through the empty streets in Uighur neighborhoods in tight columns with an armored troop carrier following them. The security forces were all Han Chinese, and some Uighurs rolled their eyes or made funny faces after the police walked by chanting, “Let’s protect Xinjiang!”

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4 Comments

BAYANI98 at 12:45 PM JST - 7th July

“The Han Chinese say we all belong to the same country. We’re all part of one big family,” said Memet, a restaurant worker who like other Uighurs declined to give his full name because he feared the police. “But the Han always treat us separately.”

Let me tell you, I know the Han, and they're all bastards every single one of them.
dragonczar at 12:51 PM JST - 7th July

I want to say my gratitues to all servicemen who mrach for their duties to protect Han Chinese people who deserved a better living in Xinjiang.They have been sacrificing to much blood and sweats to build a modernrized Xinjiang which helping those Uighars merging into China. It was that ETIM(East Turkishstan Indepenece movement) a terrorists org. defined by United nations provokoing an ethnic war! It was an intelligence failure that couldnt prevent and causing this tragedy,otherwise those bandits were 'liquidated'long before they can roll!
BAYANI98 at 01:18 PM JST - 7th July

No , it was the Spirit of Freedom of the Uighur people . They don't want to merge with China because the Han treat them like garbage , and the plan of the Han is make all the other tribes extinct so that there will only be Han in all of china . The Han should stay in their own territory , they should get out of Xinjiang and Tibet where the they are not wanted or needed in the first place!
Helter_Skelter at 03:06 PM JST - 7th July

Police restore order in western China; 156 killed

Not a word from the phoney "civil rights activist" leftists since Israel or the US isn't involved.