With the presence of thousands of armed police, Urumqi, the capital of Xinjiang province, has largely restored order and people are returning to their normal life. The violence that has led to 156 death in past a few days seemed to be gone, but the images of the brutal killings haunted people's mind across the country.
Although the official media keeps appealing for national and ethnic solidarity, the pictures and coverage of the riot presented to most Chinese indicate it is nothing but a hate crime directed at Han Chinese by Uygur gangs. Furious at that scores of innocent people were killed, Chinese netizens are calling for a tough response to what they think is exactly a terrorist attack.
Kukumusic told what he heared from his friend in Urumqi. In his eyes, he saw no so-called ‘peaceful protest’ by Uygurs but only brutal butchers:
早上起来终于联系到了一个在乌市的哥们儿，很高兴他还活着（不是开玩笑），后来说到了乌市的现况，他跟我说了点那边动乱的细节，和现在网上论坛里报道的有些不同，一起说出来吧。
维族人在大街上见到汉族人就上去割喉，分成7、8人一组，杀了汉人后，5秒钟就散开，走在路上，常看见躺着很多具尸体。
暴乱的维族人都是生活在贫困线下的维族，据说被境外收买后，实施暴动行为。有一些维族人已经到了丧心病狂的地步，有直接把人从天桥上往下扔，更狠的是有些维族普通老百姓也受到牵连，也被他们错打。
Uygur gangs rushed to every Han Chinese they saw and cut their throats in groups of 7 and 8. After the murder, they dispersed in 5 seconds. Walking along the street, he can see dead bodies around.
The rioters are those living in poverty. It is said they were manipulated by foreign organizers to carry out the violent killings. Some Uygurs are just crazy that they threw people straight from the bridge. More violently, they even mistakenly slaughtered their own people.
In EastSouthWestNorth.com, a number of witness accounts were translated into English, along with bloody pictures. The people injured, judged from their appreance, are most Han Chinese.
The brutal killings obviously provoked many netizens. Therefore, on the internet the call for a tough strike-back is prevailing. Some even complained the government is too soft.
lgf5156 (YY无罪) said:
我刚才和在乌鲁木齐工作的弟弟通了电话，感觉乌市汉人对政府的所作所为非常不满
认为
1 政府没有很好的保护他们，不相信政府。恐怖分子杀人时，打砸抢时没有武警（这个可能是政府对事件估计不足），等汉族人上街游行时，又是直升机，又是武警，催泪瓦斯，政府指挥镇压汉族人。
2 单位里本来很荣恰的民族关系变得很紧张。只要看到屠杀的汉族人，永远不会对维族有好感了。这是一个非常严重的问题。也非常难以解决。
1. They were not well protected. They don't believe in the government. When the terrorists killed and robbed there are no armed police (perhaps the government underestimated the situation). But when the Han Chinese marched on street, there were helicopters, armed police and tear gas to stop us.
2. The harmonious ethnic relationship in our company turned tense. As long as people saw the scenes that Han were viciously killed, I am afraid they would no longer feel kind of Uygurs. It is a very serious problem.
The harm by the riot to both Uygurs and Han Chinese in Xinjiang is destined to be far-reaching. No one would forget the battle-field-like, horrible killings happened in Urumqi.
A journalist noted down what he experienced after the interview of Uygur women protesting for their missing husbands and sons who are said to be arrested:
当记者结束採访赛马场维族妇女示威后，约过了20分钟，好不容易找到的士返回酒店，车子刚行驶约10分 钟途经大湾北路时，经验丰富的汉族的士司机感觉前面气氛不对，急忙停车说，不能再走这条路了。记者不解其意，问他「为什麽不走？」仅过了1分钟，就见前面 许多行人像避雨一样慌张跑过来，有人边跑边喊，「快跑呀，前面又有事了！」循声望去，只见眼前100米路面已被大批维族人封锁，随即传来玻璃破碎声。的士 司机见状急忙掉头，四周汽车纷纷转向，一时间交通秩序大乱。Mitbbs.com
记者从未经历如此紧张场面，只见路上行人朝同一个方向奔跑….车子至一个交叉路口刚要转弯，车后忽有女人拼命拍打车尾，急呼「帮帮忙，我跑不动了」，好心的司机停车让她上车，
一行人脱险后，记者反问司机﹕「刚才情景好像在伊拉克打仗，要这样紧张吗？」司机回答说，「你没经历过当时惨景，那些维族暴徒连妇女小孩都不放过，被他们撞到能有好结果吗？」
I have never seen such a tension. All people ran to the same direction. When our taxi was about to turn, a woman flapped on the window shouting, ‘I can't run anymore, help!’ We stopped to let her in.
When we got out of the danger, I asked the driver, ‘It was just like a war in Iraq. Do we have to be so?’ The driver said, ‘You don't know about that. Those gangs don't even let women and girls go. Nothing good would happen if they capture you’.
Many Han Chinese are grieved to see that, the effort to restore order in Urumqi is, again, was seen by some western media as ‘crackdown’, and the riot as but ‘peaceful protest.’
空气稀薄 complaint:
其实，为了维护民族团结，防止仇恨加剧，中国媒体的报道已经非常“不客观”了，那些血淋淋,惨不忍睹的镜头只有在海外媒体和互联网论坛上才可以见到，无耻的德国媒体竟然说中国政府用宣传propaganda来煽动汉人对维族人的仇恨。
如果是警方武力镇压造成所谓的维族“和平抗议者”大量伤亡，图片呢？视频呢？截至此刻，有哪家外媒，有哪个境外疆独组织能提供哪怕一张（段）这种性质的图片和视频？
If it was police crackdown that made so large a casualty of ‘peaceful protesters’, where are the pictures? Videos? So far, has any single picture be provided by western media or separatist to prove the bloody crackdown?
On Youtube. in response to a video titled 新疆万人抗议 呼吁国际关注 (Thousands protesting in Xinjiang, call for international attention), ahuich said
放你妈的狗屁！有计划的镇压！
维吾尔人屠杀了154人，重伤800人，是冲突，是示威。武警前 来维持秩序，就是有计划的镇压
That Uygurs killed 154 and hurt 800 is only conflict and protest. But armed police to restore order is well-planned crackdown!
Dugles commented:
如果政府机关枪扫射了。拿我做梦都偷着笑。可怜的中国政府，什么 事都不做也照样被人扣屎盆子。既然这样，为什么不痛痛快快的干呢 ！！！
If the government fired machine guns, I would laugh in my dream. But the poor government, even if it did nothing it will still be condemned. If so, why not just do it?
On New York Times, a series of pictures showing the riot is also criticized as catering to stereotypes and distorting facts.
This picture by Nir Elias/Reuters, which shows a man lying on the bed with the caption ‘Uighurs injured at a hospital in the city during a media tour by the authorities on Monday.’, is ridiculed by Chin:
是啊，这照片明明是里面的名字明明是汉人，到了注解的时候变成维族了
walala said:
构图的idea就是: 先拍军警, 再拍维族, 拍伤者/血之类, 也放个维族在照片里. 总之
要旨是暗示军警打维族.
The idea of making pictures is: first armed police, then Uygurs, then injured people blooding, and a few Uygurs. Anyway, it is meant to imply that police beat Uygurs.
Radio Free Asia is also criticized for mistakenly citing a picutre of Shishou incident for Xinjiang riot. What is interesting is that, Rebiya Kadeer, the woman alleged by CCP to be the head of the riot, showed exactly this picture in her interview to depict the situation in Urumqi. Relative information can been at the bottom of this page in EastSouthWestNorth.
The journalists’ unscheduled confrontation with a large crowd of Uygurs women, who were wailing for their missing families arrested by authority, was also thought to be suspicious. The protesting women were featured by several influential western newspapers.
The journalist of Wenhui Newspaper wrote about what happened at the time:
在成功吸引众多记者的注意后，这些维族妇女又分成几群，对记者、特别是外国记者，声泪俱下地用维语哭喊。她们当中，每几个人裡便会有一名懂汉语的维族妇女负责用中文作现场翻译，这让记者们很容易地明白其哭诉的主要内容是：她们的丈夫、儿子或父亲，昨晚被警察抓走了、打死了。但当被问及到底有多少人昨晚被抓或死亡时，这些维族妇女却又不断变换「口径」：最初向外媒记者说有100人，之后又改口说300人，最后又称有上千人。
记者注意到，在一些中国记者用普通话向这些妇女提问时，她们会用中文回答说听不懂，但面对外国记者的镜头，她们马上用流利的汉语大声哭诉，并不断有人晕倒。如果发现外国记者没注意到这些「细节」，还会有人主动上前，拉外国记者们去拍。
I saw that when Chinese journalists interviewd them in CHinese, they would say ‘I don't understand Chinese’. But in front of foreign cameras, they would whine in fluent Chinese, and people fainted. If no foreign reporters found out the ‘details’, there were people walking up to get have the scenes filmed.
24 comments
It’s too complicated as a problem. I believe the news report here in Australia has been quite objective… well, on the good ol’ A(ustralian!)BC at least.
Beijing has a problem that its ethnic policies basically does not make anyone happy. The Chinese governments of any levels all get uptight when certain incidents involve ethnic minorities. They always try to “harmonise” things, while things, going against their wishes, more than often get out of their hands.
On one hand, Beijing gives the ethnic minorities some little treats, eg. couples can have more than 1 baby if they like, students can get some extra points in the National College Entrance Exam, lenient sentences for crimes(maybe petty ones?);
While on the other, Beijing treats ethnic minorities as potential enemies who need tight control. When I was attending university in Shanghai I heard from a few friends from Xinjiang that as ethnic minorities they were refused to be served in all the little hotels/hostels they tried to check in. They couldn’t even organise normal dance parties just for festivals.
Uyghurs usually can’t get good jobs even back in Xinjiang, let alone Shanghai, causing a huge economical disparity, which usually heralds hatred among the uneducated and subsequently social unrest.
This time they tried to cover up yet another “molestation” case of some Uyghur worker in Guangdong province, and when the Han mob had to take justice to their own hand, unfortunately 2 lives were tragically cut short. This typifies the governments reaction when ethnic minorities commit petty crimes, and has long begotten resentment among the Hans. Whereas for the majority of the Uyghurs in Xinjiang, they can’t even share a tiny little bit of the wealth that has built on the local oil/gas reserves, unemployed, uneducated, what they see is just brutal Han voilence and oppression.
What Beijing needs to do, is to treat all Chinese citizens as equals. It sounds funny, I know, because they haven’t even sorted out all the problems among Hans yet… Democracy and a “melting-pot society” that we are so familiar with in the west are just like a distant dream.
That said, murderers shouldn’t be portrayed as “peaceful protesters” and should be given fair trials in courts of the law.
China’s problem, sometimes, is it wants to have its cake and eat it too… Hmmm… it is quite annoying to be honest but irresponsible, distorted reports in certain western media do not really help in solving the problem at all.
Rabeya Kadeer is a monster head of terrorist activism. Operating from sanctuary in US she incite violence in urumuqi and Obama pretended blindness. Even sections of Congress could pretend that this is Chinese brutal oppression of uyghurs and spoke for her. Wonder what
US would say if Chinese Government let off fireworks in praise and celebration of Osama bin Laden’s 9/11 attack on World Trade Centre the way some Palestinian kids in Gaza applauded those attacks. The Turkish Government
went one step further calling the events in Urumuqi a “genocide” by Chinese Government. The world, it seems cannot live without xenophobic hate and lies. We might as well end all these hatred within mankind by a holocaust of all-out nuclear exchange of all the nuclear-capable powers. The surviving third world nations in remote backward civilisations might learnt something thereon and live in peace and mutual respect therefrom. I can’t wait for this to happen soon enough
The arrogence of the western media is sickening. Just like the Tibet reportings, even after they were pointed out to their factual mistakes they would publish a correction.
Those who mock the Chinese media should demand a higher quality from western reporters as well. But that won’t happen because most of them don’t care for the truhh, they just want to see more china bashing.
At least the Chinese netizens have the smarts not to believe the official media.
I am still waiting for the western media to mention the concept of affirmative action in china. Given that most of the media has went into great depth to explore the ‘discriminations’ against minorities in china no one even mentioned about chinas efforts to help these minorities. In fact one can argue that the factory incident which triggered this riot was caused by Hans workers getting looked over because of such affirmative action laws.
POOR Chinese always the victims of rioters and terrorists!
When will this fighting and killings end?
If the @#deer truly cares about her people, then stop bribing the poor uighers to form terrorist attacks so that their families can have the money. I am sorry that both hans and uighers die, but the deer is asking for it. God, people sell their souls for money!
maybe it’s just one false photo onthousands, but for others, they may think it’s a photo showing to millions of audience in an important TV channel. Rebiya Kadeer the fake photo controversy just show her criteria of verify a news is very low. yet western media often imply her word is more reliable than those from Chinese side. yes, you can say it’s not biased too.
however, if you google :”rebiya kadeer error photo”, you can’t find any wester mainstream media report this news, except Al Jazeera itself. you know this is important for reader to judge the credibility of Rebiya Kadeer’s word. What’s more, readers are interested in reading news about politician making a fool of themselvse.
western media has no reason not to tell this story to their reader, unless they try to deliberately cover it up. and we know western media mention Kadeer repeatly even after the “photo error controversy”, they have many chance to tell their readers that, but they didn’t.
someone said Australian media is objective. however i wonder he can know Rebiya’s fake photo controversy from Auntralian mainstream media. someone said readers in western world know to compare news from different source. however, on the discussion board of western media, we can notice many readers were misleaded by western mainstream media, becasue most readers have not time to read enough news other than mainstream media to make an educated guess.
discrimination on disadvantage groups does exist in China. but this can not justify western media distort the fact, such as covering up Rebiya’s fake photo controversy, ignoring the brutal attack on Han-Chinese by Uighur mob. if western media try to persuade Chinese realize their mistake, the biased report from western media just make Chinese suspect their sincerity. Can the distorted report help those disadvantage groups either? no, the distorted report from western media just satisfy their arrogant readers in western world.
i just want to know why my response need to be censored for so long each time, while others’ comments have already past the censor.
there will be world war III if usa keeps meddling with other’s affairs. . . .[sigh]