Riots in East Turkestan: Future of Uighurs

[Flint]

I think it has to deal more with the tensions of living in a society with many ethnicities. This reminds me a lot of the riots in LA and Washington DC during the civil rights movement.

It has to do with suppression of minorities, rather than simply the result of a multi-ethnic society.

 

[Flint]

YouTube - Rights group worried about clampdown in Xinjiang

 

[Koji]

It has to do with suppression of minorities, rather than simply the result of a multi-ethnic society.

Well in the US, it was white suppression of blacks. How is this different?

 

[Flint]

Well in the US, it was white suppression of blacks. How is this different?

Of course, blacks were denied their rights. I am not defending the US here. But I wonder if the casualty figures in the LA riots were anywhere close to these.

 

[Flint]

YouTube - Riots in Urumqi, July 5, 2009

 

[LETHALFORCE]

Al Jazeera English - Asia-Pacific - Uighur exiles deny China riot claim

Uighur exiles deny China riot claim

The protest was originally called after two Uighur workers died at a factory [AFP]

Uighur exiles have rejected Beijing's accusations that they organised riots in China's western Xinjiang province that left at least 140 people dead.

Chinese state media reported on Monday that thousands of people fought with police and set fire to vehicles in the city of Urumqi a day earlier after a protest against the government's handling of an industrial dispute turned violent.

"It is common practice for Beijing to blame outsiders for any problems in Xinjiang, as it does with problems in Tibet," Alim Seytoff, a spokesman for the World Uighur Congress pressure group, told Al Jazeera.

"The root cause of the problem is really the Chinese government's long-standing repressive policies," he said.

Local officials blamed Rebiya Kadeer, a Uighur businesswoman who was jailed for years in China before being released into exile in the US where she now heads the World Uighur Congress, for "masterminding" the unrest.

"Rebiya had phone conversations with people in China on July 5 in order to incite, and websites such as Uighurbiz.cn and Diyarim.com were used to orchestrate the incitement and spread of propaganda," said Nur Bekri, the governor of Xinjiang.

'Profound lesson'

Wang Lequan, the region's senior Communist Party official, said that Sunday's violence was "a profound lesson learned in blood".

"We must tear away Rebiya's mask and let the world see her true nature," he said.
The protest was originally called after two Uighur workers at a toy factory in southern China were killed in a clash with Han Chinese staff late last month.

"This began as a peaceful protest by young Uighurs," Seytoff said.

He said that the clashes broke out when armed police and armoured vehicles moved in to forcefully break up the demonstration, opening fire on protesters.

The clashes were the deadliest outbreak of ethnic unrest to take place in Xinjiang for several years.

About 800 people are thought to have been arrested in the wake of Sunday's clashes, with police reportedly raiding university dormitories in the hunt for others who they believe organised the protest.

The Xinhua news agency said that the situation in the city was "under control" on Monday, with a nighttime curfew imposed and paramilitary police out in force.

'Powerful measures'

Local residents also reported that internet and mobile phone connections in Urumqi were unavilable - a shutdown that is becoming standard practice in areas of China hit by unrest.

"At present, the situation is still seriously complicated, Xinjiang will prevent the situation from spreading to other areas using the most powerful measures and methods and will safeguard regional stability," Nur Bekri said.

About 800 people were reportedly arrested after the unrest [Reuters/CCTV]
One local resident contacted by the Reuters news agency said Urumqi, situated 3,200km west of Beijing, was "basically under martial law".

Witnesses said the protests had spread to Kashgar, a second city in Xinjiang, on Monday afternoon.

A Uighur man told The Associated Press news agency that he was among more than 300 protesters who demonstrated outside the Id Kah Mosque before being surrounded by police, who asked them to calm down.

China has blamed ethnic separatists and Muslim extremists for stoking unrest in Xinjiang over the past decade.

But critics of Beijing say many Uighurs are angry at political, cultural and religious persecution as well as the apparent growing presence in the region of Han Chinese - China's main ethnic group.

Local Han Chinese told news agencies that they were the victims of much of the violence in Urumqi on Sunday

 

[Arjak]

The last one in 1992- 52 dead in LA.

But there have been many other instances in the US prior to 92 where a lot of people have been killed.

another massacre or mass killing doesn't possibly justify one in china,my friend.

 

[LETHALFORCE]

The last one in 1992- 52 dead in LA.

But there have been many other instances in the US prior to 92 where a lot of people have been killed.

there have never been numbers like the ones reported here even in India for decades and probably never in USA if you have a link post it.

 

[Koji]

I was not justifying the killings. I wanted to say that it is most likely due to ethnic tensions from living in a multi-ethnic society. I used the race riots that occurred throughout the US as an example.

If you just google it, it'll come up. But, since you asked:

Los Angeles riots of 1992 - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

google the other race riots to find the # dead.

LF, this happens all the time in India.

50 dead from anti-Muslim activity: Nearly 50 dead in anti-Muslim violence in India's Assam state | Top News

100 dead from anti-Christian activity: 100 dead; 10,000 displaced in Indian Anti-Christian Violence Theology & Culture

The list goes on and on.

And it isn't just religious activity, but class violence as well which killed 35.

 

[LETHALFORCE]

this is the first time i am hearing about this kind of scale in China, also the al jazeera news piece shows what side saudis are on also there has to be some support from outside for a scale like this does not happen randomly.

 

[S.A.T.A]

This should be construed as the second stage of the demographic aggression china has been carrying out in the occupied east Turkestan and other regions for sometime now,the stage of ethnic cleansing.

The riot is just a facade.........

 

[LETHALFORCE]

that's what they are reporting that China is using riots as a premise for the slaughter to get deeper into central asia.

 

[Flint]

YouTube - Chinese authorities clamp down on Xinjiang after deadly rioting

 

[Daredevil]

I was not justifying the killings. I wanted to say that it is most likely due to ethnic tensions from living in a multi-ethnic society. I used the race riots that occurred throughout the US as an example.

If you just google it, it'll come up. But, since you asked:

Los Angeles riots of 1992 - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

google the other race riots to find the # dead.

LF, this happens all the time in India.

50 dead from anti-Muslim activity: Nearly 50 dead in anti-Muslim violence in India's Assam state | Top News

100 dead from anti-Christian activity: 100 dead; 10,000 displaced in Indian Anti-Christian Violence Theology & Culture

The list goes on and on.

And it isn't just religious activity, but class violence as well which killed 35.

oh boy, you can never discuss things without dragging India and derailing the thread deliberately, don't you?

Anyways, this may or may not be ethnic tensions, who knows?. While the examples you have given about India are result of ethnic tensions but state has never backed them as a policy unlike China, where it has completely hanised the minority regions like Tibet and Xinjiang and later doing what it is best at, ethnic cleansing and making the Hans' as majority in those places and thus suppressing the voice of minorities. With such situations, with built-up pressure/suppression, there will be retribution/rebellion one day or the other when you don't address the genuine problems. This is what happened now Xinjiang and previously in Tibet.

 

[Koji]

that's what they are reporting that China is using riots as a premise for the slaughter to get deeper into central asia.

Do you have a source to give?

 

[LETHALFORCE]

Al Jazeera English - Asia-Pacific - Uighur exiles deny China riot claim

 

[Koji]

oh boy, you can never discuss things without dragging India and derailing the thread deliberately, don't you?

Anyways, this may or may not be ethnic tensions, who knows?. While the examples you have given about India are result of ethnic tensions but state has never backed them as a policy unlike China, where it has completely hanised the minority regions like Tibet and Xinjiang and later doing what it is best at, ethnic cleansing and making the Hans' as majority in those places and thus suppressing the voice of minorities. With such situations, with built-up pressure/suppression, there will be retribution/rebellion one day or the other when you don't address the genuine problems. This is what happened now Xinjiang and previously in Tibet.

DD, I was addressing LF's claim that this stuff doesn't happen in India.

Do you have proof that the state is deliberately causing these riots?

 

[LETHALFORCE]

Al Jazeera English - Asia-Pacific - Uighur exiles deny China riot claim

 

[Koji]

Al Jazeera English - Asia-Pacific - Uighur exiles deny China riot claim

This article does not say that China is purposefully organizing these riots.

 

[LETHALFORCE]

This article does not say that China is purposefully organizing these riots.

why would China organize these riots? but the chinese get a good excuse to send troops.