According to Xinhua latest report (July 6), the violence in Urumqi, capital of northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, has led to at least 140 people dead and 828 injured. The regional government said that the mass incident was masterminded by the World Uyghur Congress. However, Uyghur independent activist explained that the unrest was sparked by anger over a confrontation between Han Chinese and Uyghur factory workers in Shaoguan city.
Shaoguan June 26 riot
So what had actually happened in Shaoguan? According to the Chinese official report, the conflict on 26 of June was caused by a rumor about a sexual assault of Han Chinese woman worker in a factory campus by Uyghur worker. The armed fight between Han and Uyghur workers had led to the death of 2 Uyghurs (some unconfirmed sources said the number of death was up to 18 Uyghurs). The Youtube videos below showed the June 26 riot:
Ethnic policy and hatred
While the Chinese government continued to use western conspiracy theory in addressing the ethnic conflict, Drunken Pig pointed out from a Han Chinese perspective that the Shaoguan incident and other similar ethnic conflicts are a result of government's ethnic policy:
汉人女工被强奸的事情在广东经常发生,但是由于作案者大多能够得到有效处理,很少酿成大规模群体事件。这次因为涉及到维族群体,而且传说是涉案者被政府释放而不受惩罚的事情重复发生之后,才导致大规模群体仇杀。
这些年的群体事件,大多出于民众对特权阶层的仇恨,而这些特权阶层的背后,都是国家暴力。中国政府的民族政策,把流到内地的维族群众变成了这样一个特权团体,但是同时也剥夺了维族人本该拥有的信仰权和自治权。
Repressing religion freedom
由于中宣部的丰功伟绩,普通民众对其他宗教所知甚少,甚至有些人以为穆斯林不吃猪肉是因为猪是他们的祖宗。无知导致的种种误解…可以说,很多仇恨都是政府的宣传机构煽动出来的…
在广东,虽然有很多维族人,但是你很难看到清真寺。我相信礼拜和祈祷对减少穆斯林的犯罪率是有效的。
那些杀人的汉人,在这次冲突中表现得非常残忍。但是平心而论,他们长期以来是受害群体。在广东,几乎所有的政府部门都护着新疆人。镇压汉人群体事件不会有大问题,但是镇压维族人,会遇到很大的阻力。因此地方政府迫于当地民众压力清理新疆流氓的行动,有时候竟然要借用黑社会和便衣联手的方式。
Social minority and unemployment problem
Uighur online disagreed with Drunken pig's Han centric viewpoint and presented the other side of the story:
成千上万的维吾尔孩子被拐骗到内地毒打虐待做小偷是事实,你们有多少人想到背后的社会问题?一个人、一个民族谁天生愿意做小偷?ZF采取过什么有效的干预措施?在我看来:一部分维吾尔孩子沦为小偷的事实恰恰说明了一个真实的现状:维吾尔人在他们的故乡处于是社会的最下层地位。
DXXX (account protected) from twitter also pointed out that:
在新疆名义上是维吾尔自治区,但是维吾尔在新疆是弱势民族。仅就汉语的使用,就是当地维吾尔族处于极大的劣势,所有招聘单位都由汉语主导。很多企业排斥招收维吾尔员工。金融、通讯、银行、石油化工,天然气等诸多领域,维吾尔人都是限制。由于政府的歧视政策,造成维吾尔人就业困难。
Urumqi mass incident
Back to the Urumqi Mass Incident, during the curfew, twitterer zz23377737 experienced 1. electricity cut. 2. disrupted tele-communication 3. non-stop police siren. Several twitterers said that the Internet connection was still cut unavailable this morning in Urumqi.
Below are two videos showing the protest scene:
ESWN has the most updated collection of news and informations on the Urumqi Mass Incident.
38 comments
If most of the killed in the riot were hans, you can bet that anti-chinese crowd here will 1)pretend those killed were uighurs 2) try to justify why the hans were willed
3) write something silly like \if the hans did not move in they would be saved.
Exactely! I really wonder where’s all the “bridge bloggers” now that news and opinions from China are all of sudden not what they want to “bridge”:
http://www.itxinwen.com/view/new/html/2009-07/2009-07-07-598221.html
一位姓陈的出租车司机对路透说,与自己轮班开出租车的妻子在汽车遭到一位维族青年袭击时眼部被严重割伤。
A taxi driver surname Chen said, his wife riding with him was attacked by a Uyghur youth, her eyes were severly slashed.
“美国为什麽不把他们定性为恐怖分子?”他说。“他们对我们犯下的就是恐怖主义,不是吗?”
“Why doesn’t UA declear them terrorist?” he said. “What they’ve done to is us terrorism, isn’t it?”
在乌鲁木齐一家医院,暴力的受害者们回忆道,成群的男子专挑汉人打杀。
At a Urumqi hospital, a victim of the violence recounts how mob of men tartets Han people for assult and murder
一位被打断两根肋骨,打青眼眶的男子说:“他们根本不跟我们说话。他们一看到我们,看到汉族人走过来,冲上来就打。公共汽车开过来,他们冲上去就打。”
A man with two broken ribs and black eye says: “they don’t talk to us. When they see Hans walk by, they charge us. When bus drive by, they charge it and start hitting.”
It is a shame that this civilian communist government is too sensitive to international media to the extent that the police are not allowed to handle the brutal Uigher protesters harshly. Iran has set a good example on how to handle violent rioters. China should now allow those non-Tibetans and non-Uighers to carry arms to protect themselves since the civilian government has failed to provide them the necessary security. It is also time that the military should take over to run the communist government.
China is actually allowing foreign media to survey and interview the victims at the hospitals now. It looks like most of the victims are hans.
I am expecting more news to come out on this tomorrow morning. Of course, the foreign media will still blame the hans although majority are killed and injured at the hands of the ever “peaceful” uighurs.
It’s good to see the Chinese government policy of censorship, complete denial of freedom of speech, et al, which we are told is necessary to ‘preserve the glorious harmony’ or some such bunk, has been so effective in preventing civil disorder in China. It sure looks much safer than here in ‘Crime ridden, disharmonious’ Britain, where the scariest thing I have observed in the past year is a few teenagers talking too loudly.
Hi Lam, I am back!
I made some tibetan friends in the quieter post beijing olympics. The tibetans are nice. Dalai and the poor tibetans are used heavily by USA (anti-China) while they are being hated by pro-china groups. Anyway, the USA is really the culprit here. My tibetan friends tell me that if they go and march and make hate-china comments, they get greencards much easier than those that don’t.
Oiwan, the videos are blocked, here in South Korea. I can only view them when I use a proxy. I wonder if someone here does not want to make China angry?
If most of people being killed are Hans, assuming so, Ms Lam, what does it imply?
If one day, the number is confirmed, would you appologize to Chinese hans?
Dont make yourself sound like animal.