Uighur Protest in China Turns to Massacre, 156 Dead (updated)
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A demonstration for Uighur rights in Urumqi, capital of the Xinjiang province, turned violent when security forces clashed with demonstrators, raising the specter of deepening ethnic tensions between Uighur muslims and ethnic Han Chinese. At least 140 people were killed and over 800 injured in the rioting that ensued. (Official estimates later Monday put the number of dead at 156.) Military police were brought in to “lock down” the entire section of the city typically seen as the Uighur quarter.
Some onlookers appear convinced the majority of those killed were Uighurs attacked by the security forces, who allegedly used deadly force in response to rock throwing and the overturning of vehicles, while others report the majority of the dead were ethnic Han Chinese brutally attacked by Uighur mobs. China says the violence was orchestrated by “organized criminal groups” abroad and carried out by enemies of the state from within China. It appears the clashes emerged from mounting ethnic tensions between Uighur muslims and Han Chinese.
Tensions involving the cultural aspirations of the Uighur minority have been many and varied. 17 Uighur muslim detainees held at Guantánamo Bay have been released to small island nations, as US law barred their return to China where it was feared they would be mistreated. Last year a movement for Uighur rights was crushed by Beijing, to avoid embarrassment during the Olympic Games, and a bomb attack in Kashgar killed 16 paramilitary soldiers.
China’s response to major demonstrations has routinely been to accuse organizers of organized criminal activity or of conspiracy to overthrow the government. Such accusations were levied against the pro-democracy demonstrators massacred at Tiananmen Square, at Tibetan demonstrators in Tibet and in neighboring provinces, at religious rights protesters supporting the Falun Gong movement, and at Uighurs supporting ethnic diversity and historical heritage, nevermind political autonomy, in Xinjiang.
There are now fears that such language may presage a more severe crackdown against the ethnic Uighur community, which has long alleged its people are routinely stripped of basic rights and legal status simply because of their ethnicity or religious faith.
Adam Grode, an English teacher living in the neighborhood where the violence occurred, told the press “There was a lot of tear gas in the streets, and I almost couldn’t get back to my apartment. There’s a huge police presence.”
UPDATE, 4:08 GMT, 7 July 2009: After authorities detained over 1,400 Uighur men (one BBC reporter said in a live radio broadcast that as many as 14,000 had been rounded up), Chinese authorities invited foreign press in to see that order had been restored to central Urumqi. But an apparently spontaneous demonstration began massing, made up mostly of women, including old ladies, young women with babies, and children, demanding “freedom” and the return of the detained men.
At least one report from the scene said security forces armed with batons, water cannon and possibly firearms, were pulling back to avoid doing harm to the women. Uighur witnesses told the international press on Monday that the demonstrations that turned violent had been prompted by the killing of two Uighurs in a clash with Han Chinese, for which the community felt there was not enough serious pursuit of justice.
Reports emerging from Xinjiang early Tuesday cite hundreds of demonstrators massing in central Kashgar, possibly clashing with security forces there. China says violent separatists are trying to spread the violence across the province. The spreading civilian demonstrations appears to mirror public reaction to discriminatory treatment that outraged many Tibetans, both in Tibet and in neighboring provinces, in early 2008.
As ethnic Tibetans in Tibet, indigenous Uighur muslims in Xinjiang say the Beijing authorities have given overwhelming privileges to a minority population of Han Chinese migrants who are taking their jobs and their autonomy. Uighur complaints include the banning of teaching in their languages, attempts to close mosques and religious schools, the destruction of ancient heritage sites, and the barring of Uighur access to many basic state services and commercial privileges.
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- China jails man who applied for permit to protest during Olympics…
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- Demonstrations Against China’s Tibet Policy Spread to Nepal, Police Attack Demonstrators
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