China says 140 killed in riots in west

[P & CA News Bot]

Violence in China's restive region of Xinjiang kills at least 140 people, the deadliest unrest in the country for decades.

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[Francois Cellier]

From Yahoo News

China says 140 killed in riots in west

By WILLIAM FOREMAN and William Foreman

1 hr 17 mins ago


URUMQI, China – Tensions between ethnic Muslims and China's Han majority in the far western Xinjiang region erupted in riots that killed 140 people and injured 828, an official said Monday, marking the deadliest unrest to hit the volatile area in decades.

A peaceful protest Sunday of about 1,000 to 3,000 people in the regional capital, Urumqi, apparently spun out of control, as rioters went on a rampage and clashed with police. The official Xinhua News Agency reported hundreds of people were arrested.

There was little immediate explanation for how so many people died. The government blamed Uighur exiles for stoking the unrest. Exile groups said the violence started only after police began violently cracking down on a peaceful protest.

The demonstrators who gathered Sunday had been demanding justice for two Uighurs killed last month during a fight with their Han Chinese co-workers at a factory in southern China. Accounts differed over what happened next in Urumqi, but the violence seemed to have started when a crowd of protesters refused to disperse.

Rioters overturned barricades, attacking vehicles and houses, and clashed violently with police, according to media and witness accounts. State television aired footage showing protesters attacking and kicking people on the ground. Other people, who appeared to be Han Chinese, sat dazed with blood pouring down their faces.

Mobile phone service provided by at least one company was cut Monday to stop people from organizing further action in Xinjiang.

Tensions between Uighurs and the majority Han Chinese are never far from the surface in Xinjiang, China's vast Central Asian buffer province, where militant Uighurs have waged a sporadic, violent separatist campaign. The overwhelming majority of Urumqi's 2.3 million people are Han Chinese.

Wu Nong, director of the news office of the Xinjiang provincial government, said more than 260 vehicles were attacked or set on fire in Sunday's unrest and 203 houses were damaged. She said 140 people were killed and 828 injured in the violence.

She did not say how many of the victims were Han or Uighurs.

Xinhua also reported 140 people died and that the death toll "was still climbing."

Xinhua said several hundred people had been arrested in connection with the riot and police were searching for about 90 other "key suspects."

Uighur exiles condemned the crackdown.

"We are extremely saddened by the heavy-handed use of force by the Chinese security forces against the peaceful demonstrators," said Alim Seytoff, vice president of the Washington, D.C.-based Uyghur American Association.

"We ask the international community to condemn China's killing of innocent Uihgurs. This is a very dark day in the history of the Uighur people," he said.

The association, led by a former prominent Xinjiang businesswoman now living in America, Rebiya Kadeer, estimated that 1,000 to 3,000 people took part in the protest.

Xinjiang Governor Nur Bekri said in a televised address early Monday blamed Uighur exiles led by Kadeer of causing the violence, saying, "Rebiya had phone conversations with people in China on July 5 in order to incite and Web sites ... were used to orchestrate the incitement and spread propaganda."

China Mobile phone service was suspended in the region "to help keep the peace and prevent the incident from spreading further," a customer service representative in Urumqi said. The woman would give only her surname, Yang.

Adam Grode, an American Fulbright scholar studying in Urumqi, described a heavy police and military presence in the city Monday.

"There are soldiers everywhere, police are at all the corners. Traffic has completely stopped but people are walking on the sidewalks," Grode said.

He said authorities took him to the police station Monday morning after seeing him taking photographs from his apartment window. They deleted his photos, confiscated his passport and released him. They gave no reason for taking his passport, but said it would be returned Tuesday.

A government statement quoted by Xinhua said the violence was "a pre-empted, organized violent crime. It is instigated and directed from abroad and carried out by outlaws in the country."

Seytoff dimisseed the accusations. "It's common practice for the Chinese government to accuse Ms. Kadeer for any unrest" in Xinjiang, he said.

Seytoff also read a brief statement from Kadeer: "The real cause of the problem lies with the Chinese government's policies toward the Uighurs. It's not alleged instigation by me or some outside forces."

The clashes Sunday in Urumqi echoed last year's unrest in Tibet, when a peaceful demonstration by monks in the capital of Lhasa erupted into riots that spread to surrounding areas, leaving at least 22 dead. The Chinese government accused the Dalai Lama of orchestrating the violence — a charge he denied.

Many Uighurs yearn for independence for Xinjiang, a sprawling region rich in minerals and oil that borders eight Central Asian nations. Critics say the millions of Han Chinese who have settled here in recent years are gradually squeezing the Turkic people out of their homeland.

But many Chinese believe the Uighurs (pronounced WEE-gers) are backward and ungrateful for the economic development the Chinese have brought to the poor region.

Previous mass protests quelled by armed forces became signal events for Xinjiang's separatist movement. In 1990, about 200 Uighurs shouting for holy war protested through Baren, a town near the Afghan border, resulting in violence that left at least two dozen people dead.

In 1997, amid a wave of bombings and assassinations, a protest by several hundred Uighurs in the city of Yining against religious restrictions turned into an anti-Chinese uprising that left at least 10 dead.

In both cases pro-independence groups said the death tolls were several times higher, and the government never conducted a public investigation into the events.

Four Uighur detainees at the U.S. prison at Guantanamo Bay in Cuba were recently released and relocated to Bermuda despite Beijing's objections because U.S. officials have said they fear the men would be executed if they returned to China. Officials have also been trying to transfer 13 others to the Pacific nation of Palau.

[EstebonRober]

Ah a situation in which Muslim aggression is probably righteous!

China is bigger then it can handle culturally, imo this more then anything explains its inability to loosed the reigns on its tight control. If it does it has no idea how much land mass it might actually loose.

[Francois Cellier]

It's more than that.

First, if they allow the Islamic separatists to go unpunished, they are likely to incite the next uprising by the neighboring Tibetans as well.

Second, the Muslim areas are rich in fossil fuels. Go figure!

[leocn]

Civilians and armed police officer killed in NW China violence

Firemen put out a fire in Dawannanlu Street in Urumqi, capital of northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region on July 5, 2009. (Xinhua/Shen Qiao)

The violence in Urumqi, capital of northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, has led to the death of "a number of civilians and one armed police officer" on Sunday, sources with the regional government said early Monday.
Some ordinary people and armed police officers were also injured, while many motor vehicles and shops were smashed and burned, the sources said.
The situation is under control now, it added.


Previous government report said that three ordinary people of the Han ethnic group were killed in the incident as of 11 p.m. Sunday, in addition to 20 others injured.
"They took to the street, not peacefully, carrying knives, wooden batons, brick and stone," said Wang Yaming, who was hacked down by several outlaws, but then saved by a group of Uygur citizens.
A taxi driver, whose surname was Zhao, told Xinhua that he was assaulted by some 20 young people with batons in hands rushing out of a lane. "They hit me badly and took my mobile phone and money away, then they smashed the window of my car," he said.

Photo taken on July 5, 2009 shows a shop which is smashed in Tianchi Street in Urumqi, capital of northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region. The violence in Urumqi, capital of northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, has led to the death of "a number of civilians and one armed police officer" on Sunday, sources with the regional government said early Monday.(Xinhua/Liu Bing)
Initial investigation showed the violence was masterminded by the separatist World Uyghur Congress led by Rebiya Kadeer, according to the regional government.
Rebiya Kadeer, a former businesswoman in China, was detained in 1999 on charges of harming national security. She was released on bail on March 17, 2005 to seek medical treatment in the United States.
"The violence is a preempted, organized violent crime. It is instigated and directed from abroad, and carried out by outlaws in the country," a government statement said early Monday.
According to the government, the World Uyghur Congress has recently been instigating an unrest via the Internet among other means, calling on the outlaws "to be braver" and "to do something big."
Nur Bekri, chairman of the Xinjiang regional government, said in a televised speech Monday morning that "three forces" of terrorism, separatism and extremism made use of a brawl between Uygur and Han ethnic workers in a toy factory in Guangdong Province on June 26, in which two Uygur workers died, to sabotage the country.
On Saturday evening, some people began to spread information on the Internet, calling for demonstration in the People's Square and South Gate in the Urumqi city. On Sunday, Rebiya called her accomplices in China for further instigation.
Outlaws came to the street at around 7 p.m. Sunday. They gathered, marched and demonstrated, which developed into violent acts of beating, smashing, looting and burning in some places, said the official.
Nur Bekri said the bodies of the two Uygur workers in the brawl have been sent back by plane to Xinjiang for burial. Police in Xinjiang and Guangdong are jointly investigating the brawl, so as to ensure justice.
The government of Shaoguan City, where the toy factory is located, and the factory are trying their best to make Uygur workers go back to work as soon as possible, he added.
The brawl was triggered by a sex assault by a Uygur worker toward a Han female worker, he said.
"We should bear in mind that stability is to the greatest interest of all people in China, including the 21 million-plus people from all ethnic groups in Xinjiang," he said.
Xinjiang, the far western autonomous region, is home to more than 10.96 million of ethnic minority people, including Uygur, Mongolian and Hui.


An injured man is carried to an urgent care center in Urumqi, capital of northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region on July 5, 2009.(Xinhua/Shen Qiao)
EFFORTS TO RESTORE ORDER
The Urumqi municipal government issued an urgent notice early Monday morning, announcing traffic control in certain areas to "maintain social order in the city and guarantee the execution of duty by state organs."
"From 1 a.m. to 8 a.m. on July 6, police impose traffic control in certain areas in the city of Urumqi. Passage in these areas is not allowed for any vehicle," the notice reads.
"All the units and individuals shall voluntarily help maintain social order as required by this notice. People who violate the notice will be detained and punished by police according to law. Those whose acts constitute a crime shall be subject to criminal liabilities according to law," says the notice.
So far the government has not disclosed how many people were involved in Sunday's violence.
Police have arrested some rioters, although the exact number of people arrested was still not available.
This year marks the region's 60th anniversary of peaceful liberation. But during the annual "two session" in March this year, Nur Bekri warned the security situation in the region would be "more severe".
"It's a time of celebration for Xinjiang people but hostile forces will not give up such an opportunity to sabotage," said the official.

[leocn]

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[EstebonRober]

Jesus they take no time to get out their side of the story on every website they find talking about anything to do with China anymore?

If you ever come back to see this Leocn, I think your government is full of shit on 90% of what they say to anyone, but most especially what they tell their own.

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[leocn]

140 killed, 800 injured in Xinjiang riots
By Cheng Gang in Urumqi and Qiu Wei in Beijing
Tensions lingered yesterday in Urumqi, and part of the city remained under martial law following a Sunday night riot that left at least 140 dead and more than 800 injured, officials said.
Armed police could be seen patrolling streets in the capital city of the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region in Northwest China. Most shops in areas where the violence occurred remained closed yesterday and few vehicles were seen in the streets.
In People’s Square, where the unrest started, riot police and armed police forces could be seen en masse.
Police remained yesterday at the highest level of combat readiness since martial law was declared Sunday, an officer in Urumqi, who asked not to be named, told the Global Times.
“We had a sleepless night Sunday,” the officer said, adding that many of the dead were killed in stampedes. He also said more turmoils could not be ruled out.
Some began to gather at People’s Sqaure at 6:20 pm and later started burning and smashing vehicles and confronting police, according to footage shown on State broadcaster China Central Television.
In the early hours of Sunday, local police were tipped off that information was spreading on Internet forums calling for demonstrations at People’s Square, local authorities said. The violence began around 8 pm, when some rioters started beating pedestrians and smashing buses, and the mayhem quickly spread to other parts of the downtown area.
“The mob took sticks, swords and petrol bombs; some of them even had guns,” Zhong Liang, a local resident, told the Global Times. “A lot of people were killed in those secluded alleys.”
The violence erupted from the central commercial district of Urumqi, Zhong said.
“Han people were especially targeted by rioters. But some other Uygurs were seen helping the attacked Hans,” Zhong said.
The No. 3 Hospital of Urumqi had received 98 injured people as of last night. Zhao Gang, of Beijing, arrived in Urumqi Sunday night and said he was chased and beaten by rioters. Zhao sought refuge in a military compound.
Uygurs make up the largest ethnic group in Xinjiang, dominating the populations of cities such as Kashgar, but the majority of residents in the capital are Han. Urumqi has a population of about 2.3 million.
The World Uygur Congress, led by Rebiya Kadeer, a separatist in exile in the United States, was blamed for orchestrating the unrest, according to local authorities.
The congress recently instigated unrest via the Internet, calling on supporters “to be braver” and “to do something big,” the local government said.
“This was a crime of violence that was pre-meditated and organized,” said Nur Bekri, chairman of the Xinjiang regional government.
The riots were agitated following a fight between the Uygur and Han ethnic workers, resulting in two dead Uygur workers in a toy factory in Guangdong Province on June 26, Bekri said in a televised speech yesterday.
The fight was triggered by the sexual assault of a female Han worker by a Uygur coworker, Bekri said.
As authorities expected the death toll from Sunday’s riot to rise, hundreds of arrests were made yesterday in connection with the unrest, and searches for about 90 other key suspects were underway, Regional Police Chief Liu Yaohua said at a press conference.
Twitter.com was blocked on the mainland yesterday. However, fanfou.com, Twitter’s Chinese equivalent, remained in operation. Searches for “Urumqi” or “riot” produced no results.
Independent information about the riot, including photos, poured into online forums and blogs. But such Web pages were soon deleted, while mobilephone services were briefly unconnected in the afternoon.
World media has been covering the incident extensively. A media center had been set up in Hoi Tak Hotel for reporters who came to cover the incident.
“The riot has destroyed the spiritual support with which the terrorist, separatist and extremist forces cheated the people to participate in the so-called Jihad,” Wang Lequan, chief of the Xinjiang Communist Party of China (CPC), said in an interview with Xinjiang TV yesterday.
Kang Juan, Guo Qiang and An Baijie contributed to this story
Xinjiang-related violence
2008
May 5: Three killed in a Shanghai bus bombing. The Turkestan Islamic Party (TIP) claims responsibility. China says TIP is not responsible, but no details are given.
July 8: Chinese authorities say police killed five Muslims who were planning a “holy war” in Urumqi, Xinjiang’s capital.
July 21: Three buses bombed in Kunming, southwest China’s Yunnan Province, killing two people. TIP claims responsibility. China again says TIP wasn’t responsible, but gives no details.
August 4: Terrorists kill 16 policemen at a police station in Kashgar, days before the Beijing Olympics.
August 10: Ten attackers and one security guard are killed in bombings and a shootout with police in the remote city of Kuqa.
August 12: Three security officers are killed when assailants jump off a vehicle passing through a checkpoint and stab them.
August 27: Two policemen are killed and five wounded while searching a cornfield near Kashgar, western Xinjiang, for a suspect connected with an earlier attack.
August 29: Police kill six and arrest three others in a clash in Kashgar prefecture.
2009
February 25: A couple from Xinjiang set themselves on fire with their son in central Beijing over a dispute with their local government. They survive.
April 9: China executes two Muslim men in Kashgar for an August 4 terrorist attack that killed 16 police officers.
July 5: Violence breaks out in Urumqi, with official reports putting the number of casualties near at least 140 by last night.
Rebiya Kadeer
Rebiya Kadeer was born in 1951, in the Altay Prefecture of the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, and she used to be a prominent Uygur businesswoman who benefited from the reform and opening-up policy.
Kadeer served as the vice president of the Xinjiang Federation of Industry and Commerce and vice director of the Association of Women Entrepreneurs. She was nominated as a member of the 8th Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference.
Kadeer’s successes as a businesswoman faded as she was accused of connections with a slew of economic frauds. The trading company she registered in Urumqi, was found to have dodged taxes of more than 8 million yuan ($1.2 million) from 1994 to 2004, as well as failing to pay a fine for late payment of more than 20 million yuan ($2.9 million) and repaying more than 28 million yuan ($4.1 million)in debt.
In 1999, she was detained on charges of jeopardizing national security and was sentenced to eight years in prison.
On March 17, 2005, Kadeer was released on early medical parole to the United States. She affirmed to the Chinese government before departing for the US that she would never participate in any activities to harm China’s national security.
But she ate her words soon afterward and is accused of masterminding a series of separatist activities and demanding her children sell off their properties in order to flee China.

[leocn]

Riots raise terror alarm in China
Bloody riots erupted in Urumqi, capital of the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, Sunday evening, killing an estimated 140 people and injuring more than 800. It is an alarming fact that terrorist groups pose a serious security threat to China.
The scene was chilling: rioters harassed and beat passers-by; buildings were smashed and burned. Many dead bodies of the innocent were found in alleyways.
No organization has claimed responsibility for the incident. But according to regional authorities, the initial investigations showed the riots were masterminded by the World Uyghur Congress (WUC), led by Rebiya Kadeer.
Separatist groups of the region have increasingly resorted to violent means to instigate hatred among different ethnicities to realize their ultimate goal of separating Xinjiang from China.
The latest riot is the most brutal in several years. Last August, 16 policemen were killed in Kashgar by two terrorists armed with explosives. Separatist groups were also responsible for a series of deadly attacks in other Chinese cities before the 2008 Olympic Games.
The Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region is the frontline of China’s fight against terrorism. The separatist groups gained new power with shifting geopolitics in foreign countries. The groups have established a close connection with other terror groups and religious fundamentalists in Central Asia.
Separatist groups are not hiding their intention of confronting the central government with violence.
The East Turkestan Islamic Movement (ETIM), the most militant of various separatist groups, openly demands creation of an independent country in Xinjiang.
Evidence has been found by the US State Department that ETIM has financial connections with Al Qaeda and has targeted US interests abroad. Some ETIM members were trained by Al Qaeda in areas of Afghanistan, Chechnya and Kashmir.
While separatist groups are continuing their violent attacks, the Rebiya Kadeer-led WUC is pushing for the goal of separation under the cover of fighting for the interests of Uygurs. Foreign media is distorting the facts by describing China’s anti-separation actions as restricting minority rights.
Territorial integrity and ethnic unity are the top concerns of China, which is right in striking hard at the separatist forces. But its anti-terrorism efforts are often countered by international politics.
Terrorism is a global threat, as terrorists operate in multiple continents. Meeting the challenge requires a concerted effort among every country. When it comes to defining terrorists, there should be no double standards.

[EstebonRober]

Originally Posted by leocn

Riots raise terror alarm in China
Bloody riots erupted in Urumqi, capital of the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, Sunday evening, killing an estimated 140 people and injuring more than 800. It is an alarming fact that terrorist groups pose a serious security threat to China.
The scene was chilling: rioters harassed and beat passers-by; buildings were smashed and burned. Many dead bodies of the innocent were found in alleyways.
No organization has claimed responsibility for the incident. But according to regional authorities, the initial investigations showed the riots were masterminded by the World Uyghur Congress (WUC), led by Rebiya Kadeer.
Separatist groups of the region have increasingly resorted to violent means to instigate hatred among different ethnicities to realize their ultimate goal of separating Xinjiang from China.
The latest riot is the most brutal in several years. Last August, 16 policemen were killed in Kashgar by two terrorists armed with explosives. Separatist groups were also responsible for a series of deadly attacks in other Chinese cities before the 2008 Olympic Games.
The Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region is the frontline of China’s fight against terrorism. The separatist groups gained new power with shifting geopolitics in foreign countries. The groups have established a close connection with other terror groups and religious fundamentalists in Central Asia.
Separatist groups are not hiding their intention of confronting the central government with violence.
The East Turkestan Islamic Movement (ETIM), the most militant of various separatist groups, openly demands creation of an independent country in Xinjiang.
Evidence has been found by the US State Department that ETIM has financial connections with Al Qaeda and has targeted US interests abroad. Some ETIM members were trained by Al Qaeda in areas of Afghanistan, Chechnya and Kashmir.
While separatist groups are continuing their violent attacks, the Rebiya Kadeer-led WUC is pushing for the goal of separation under the cover of fighting for the interests of Uygurs. Foreign media is distorting the facts by describing China’s anti-separation actions as restricting minority rights.
Territorial integrity and ethnic unity are the top concerns of China, which is right in striking hard at the separatist forces. But its anti-terrorism efforts are often countered by international politics.
Terrorism is a global threat, as terrorists operate in multiple continents. Meeting the challenge requires a concerted effort among every country. When it comes to defining terrorists, there should be no double standards.

There is always a double standard that's why even a US patriot like me thinks the "war on Terror" is about as stupid of phrasing as phrasing gets. . .Then again we couldn't be honest so wth. . .

Your terrorists are freedom fighters in many people's eyes, welcome to double standard town buddy, get used to it, China is the next big evil bully. . .Think about it the US is the big evil bully now and it at least gets to claim its peoples are relatively free, China squashes all resistance with an iron fist. . .

[P & CA News Bot]

Chinese police arrest 1,434 people over rioting in Xinjiang province, state media says, as protests spread to a second city.

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[leocn]

can relatively free?

[IMG]url=http://hiphotos.baidu.com/wethemedia/pic/item/652fea1016a7f7d1a6ef3f37.jpg[/IMG]


http://www.qseen.cn/post/US_march.html

or us ?relatively free?

[P & CA News Bot]

Gangs of the majority Han Chinese roam riot-torn Urumqi as ethnic tensions with the Muslim minority Uighurs escalate.

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[EstebonRober]

Lawls your propaganda is disgusting. Go away.

China there is no recourse to the law. Nuff said.

[Francois Cellier]

Originally Posted by EstebonRober

Lawls your propaganda is disgusting. Go away.

Leocn is allowed to express his views just as much as you are, Estebon. If you don't like his views, then don't read them, but this board is open to all political views. This is precisely what makes P&CA interesting and informative.