Skip to main content

Ethnic Violence Continues in Urumqi Despite Chinese Show of Force

By VOA News
08 July 2009

Chinese paramilitary police patrol in Urumqi, 08 Jul 2009
Chinese paramilitary police patrol in Urumqi, 08 Jul 2009
Large numbers of security forces patrolled the capital city of China's Xinjiang province Wednesday in an attempt to stop a third day of ethnic violence.

Chinese authorities said the situation was under control Wednesday, following clashes between Muslim Uighurs, Han Chinese and security forces.

But there were reports of Han mobs assaulting Muslim Uighurs throughout the city, even as helicopters hovered overhead.

Ethnic Han Chinese residents armed with makeshift weapons and vowing revenge on Uighurs were seen roaming the streets for a second day.

The city's top Communist Party official, Li Zhi, said anyone found guilty of murder in connection with the violence will be executed.







Urumqi mayor Jerla Isamudin told reporters Wednesday that more than 100 people killed by rioters on Sunday had been identified.

The official death toll from the violence that Uighur groups said was sparked by a crackdown on a protest that began peacefully is still 156.

No information on the ethnicity of dead or the role of security forces in their deaths has been provided.

Xinjiang's Communist Party chief, Wang Lequan, on Wednesday continued to blame what he called "hostile foreign forces" for instigating the violence. Wang specifically named U.S.-based exile Rebiya Kadeer for masterminding the unrest, a charge which she has denied.

As the United States and other countries express concern about the situation in Xinjiang, Uighur exiles around the world held more demonstrations to condemn the Chinese government.

In Turkey, Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan said his country will ask the United Nations Security Council to discuss ways to end the violence.

Earlier Wednesday, Chinese President Hu Jintao returned home from the G 8 summit in Italy to deal with the Xinjiang crisis.

Tensions between Han Chinese and Uighurs exploded last month, after a false rumor spread through a toy factory in Guangdong that Uighur workers raped two Chinese girls. Two people were killed after a fight broke out.

State-run media said police have arrested 1,434 suspects in the Xinjiang clashes, which injured more than 1,000 people on Sunday.

Some information for this report was provided by AFP, AP and Reuters.
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Qory Sandioriva: The new Putri Indonesia

The Jakarta Post , Jakarta | Fri, 10/16/2009 10:42 AM | People Courtesy of Waspada Online The criticism she has received for “misrepresenting” her home province of Aceh has failed to discourage newly crowned Putri Indonesia 2009 Qory Sandioriva. Qory, the first woman representing the strongly Islamic region of Aceh to win the title, made no apology for publicly rejecting the jilbab or Muslim headscarf during the pageant’s final night in Jakarta, playing it down as a “misunderstanding”. “Perhaps it was a mistake to make such a statement, but honestly I have never worn a jilbab all my life,” the 18-year-old French literature student from the University of Indonesia told Waspada Online during a visit to Medan, North Sumatra, a few days after her win. Her responses to the judges’ questions have upset many people, particularly religious leaders in her home province. In the contest’s final stage, she was asked why she was not wearing a headscarf like previous contestan
Post a Comment
Read more

Royal garb

Kim Kardashian reacts to photographers at the Noon by Noor launch event in West Hollywood, Calif., Wednesday night. Noon by Noor is a fashion collection designed by Kingdom of Bahrain royalty Noor Rashid Al Khalifa and Haya Mohammed Al Khalifa. (AP/Chris Pizzello)       The Jakarta Post | Thu, 07/21/2011 3:04 PM
Post a Comment
Read more

Army: Gunmen kill Indonesia soldier in Papua

 Associated Press, Jayapura | Thu, 07/21/2011 6:47 PM An army officer says unidentified gunmen have ambushed Indonesia soldiers and killed one of them in the easternmost province of Papua. The chief army officer in Papua says soldiers are still searching for the gunmen. Maj. Gen. Erfi Triassunu said the ambush Thursday morning happened outside a village in the hilly district of Puncak Jaya. Triassunu said the victim was a first private killed by a shot to his head. No information was available on the other soldiers. The attack occurred one day after a military tribunal indicted three low-ranking soldiers for killing a civilian in Puncak Jaya last year. Papua is a former Dutch colony incorporated into Indonesia in 1969 after a U.N.-sponsored ballot. A small, poorly armed separatist movement has battled for independence ever since.
Post a Comment
Read more