Chinese police move in to crush unrest in the Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region. 140 people were reportedly killed in the riots on Sunday, July 5, 2009.
Originally uploaded by Pan-African News Wire File Photos
by Xinhua writers Zhao Ying and Zhou Yan
BEIJING, July 6 (Xinhua) -- Sunday's deadly riot in the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region bruised the beautiful city of Urumqi and shocked the world, barely 16 months after the nightmarish Lhasa violence that still clings to many Chinese minds.
"Oops! Not again!" was almost the universal response when news of the unrest came Sunday night, when blood tainted Urumqi, with at least 140 lives lost and more than 800 others injured.
When rioters assaulted innocent people with knives, wooden batons, bricks and stones, smashed vehicles and set fire to buildings and public facilities, we also saw many people of ethnic minority groups extending a helping hand to the victims.
Love and humanity glittered behind the deadly violence: out of human nature, these brave people helped those who were attacked, and stopped passersby from coming too close to the violent scenes.
By their heroic deeds, we hope, these people helped remind the rioters and whoever was behind the violence, that riots would only harm the majority of the people.
History has proven, time and again, that social stability is a blessing and riot a catastrophe. Innocent citizens always suffer the most when stability is shaken, which often leads to social unrest and stagnated economic growth.
National unity and social stability are in line with the fundamental interests of all Chinese people, including the 21 million-plus people from all ethnic groups in Xinjiang.
Given its unique location and demography, the northwestern Chinese region has been a target of separatist and terrorist actions, particularly in the past two years.
On Aug. 4, 2008, just days before the Beijing Olympic Games opened, 17 people were killed and 15 injured in an attack on police by terrorists in Kashgar, Xinjiang. The attack was aimed to sabotage the Beijing Games.
Six days later, a string of explosions in supermarkets, hotels and government buildings rocked the region's Kuqa County, killing a security guard and a civilian and injuring two police officers.
On March 7, 2008, a number of terrorists planned to attack a passenger plane with explosives but were thwarted by police. The attempt was found to be masterminded by Eastern Turkistan separatists from abroad.
Police said that in the first half of 2008, five terrorist rings were busted in Xinjiang and 82 suspected terrorists detained.
Now the three forces of terrorism, separatism and extremism are at work again. An initial investigation showed a separatist group made use of the June 26 brawl involving workers from Xinjiang in a toy factory in the southern Guangdong Province to foment Sunday's unrest and sabotage the country. Behind the scheme was the separatist World Uyghur Congress led by Rebiya Kadeer.
Government investigations indicate that Sunday's unrest was controlled and instigated from abroad.
"It was a crime of violence that was premeditated and organized," said Nur Bekri, chairman of the Xinjiang regional government, in a televised speech Monday morning.
Bekri said that stability was the premise for everything in the region and people should work to maintain the harmonious and stable social and political status -- a result of the long-term efforts by the government and people across the country, "as if protecting your own eyes".
For whoever was behind the riot, or for whatever intentions they had in masterminding the bloodshed, one thing is clear: under no circumstances should slaughters be brooked, violence allowed or national security challenged.
Order partially restored in violence-plagued Urumqi, situation still tense
URUMQI, July 6 (Xinhua) -- Traffic control was partially lifted Monday morning in parts of Urumqi, capital of northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region after a deadly riot late Sunday, but tension still exists in the city.
With the exception of Yan'an Road, Tuanjie Road, a road near Xinjiang University, and Ningxiawan in the suburbs of Urumqi, blockades in downtown Urumqi have been removed.
Debris has been cleared from the roads and normal traffic has resumed. Workers are still pulling away damaged vehicles from the worst-affected roads in the city.
But most shops in areas where the violence occurred remained closed as of Monday morning.
At a market on Guangming Road, only ten stalls selling vegetables and fruit opened Monday morning, compared with dozens of stalls on normal days. The market is usually crowded.
Li Guifang, a resident near the market, said they had heard the violence last night and few residents came to the market in the morning.
Armed police are patrolling streets that are still blockaded.
In Ningxiawan, firefighters were still struggling to put out a fire at a shop Monday morning.
Residents in Urumqi said they still felt no sense of safety although the order was being restored.
A young couple, who witnessed the violent scene in Ningxiawan, said they had "little sense of safety and would leave the area quickly."
The couple, from Korla, southwest of Urumqi, said they had planned to buy a house in the capital city.
A total of 129 people were killed and 816 others injured in the violence in Urumqi, when rioters took to the street with knives, wooden batons, bricks and stones at around 7 p.m. Sunday, according to the regional government. The rioters also vandalized vehicles and buildings.
Uygur victims of south China toy factory brawl condemn Xinjiang riot
SHAOGUAN, Guangdong, July 6 (Xinhua) -- The Xinjiang Uygur workers injured in a toy factory brawl in south China's Guangdong Province condemned the riot in their hometown, where at least 140 people were killed.
"The rioters used our injuries as an excuse for their violence," said Atigul Turdi, 24, who was injured when she was running out of the scene of the fight on June 26 in Xuri toy factory in Shaoguan City, Guangdong. "I firmly opposed the violence in the name of taking revenge for us."
Two Uygur workers died and 60 Xinjiang Urgur workers were injured in the brawl. Then riot organizers started posting calls on Internet forums for demonstrations in Urumqi, the Xinjiang regional capital.
"I believe the government will handle the brawl appropriately," Turdi said. "Why did the rioters destroy our beautiful and peaceful Xinjiang region in such cruel manners?"
Among the 60 injured workers from Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, 29 have been discharged from hospital and a dozen others had recovered, said Fan Shiping, a doctor at Yuebei People's Hospital in Shaoguan City.
"The rest who were being treated and are in stable conditions," he said. "We are getting along with the patients very well."
Turdi said she would stay in Guangdong to work after recovery. As one of the first workers to arrive at Xuri factory from Shufu County, Xinjiang on May 1, she still missed the happy days to work with her colleagues harmoniously.
"Every one was very happy at a party after our arrival," she said.
But she was worried rioters would "do something terrible in other areas besides Urumqi."
"My family in Xinjiang are also feared," she said.
Ebeyjan Ahmad whose arms and head were hurt in the fight was waiting to be discharged from hospital.
He shared the worry with Turdi and chose to work in Shaoguan, too.
"As long as I'm safe here, I'd like to stay," he said. "I have made phone calls to my family so that they won't be worried about me."
Doctors celebrated the birthday of the 18-year-old Kurbanjan Abdulla in the hospital. He was presented with a birthday cake and received good wishes from the patients.
The government of Shaoguan and the factory are trying their best to help Uygur workers go back to work as soon as possible, officials said.
The alleged sexual assault on a female Han worker Huang Cuiling by several Uygur co-workers at 11 p.m. on June 25 triggered the fight between Uygur and Han ethnic workers in the Xuri toy factory in the early morning on June 26, said Nur Bekri, chairman of the Xinjiang regional government, at the press conference on Monday.
The deaths of two Uygur workers in the fight were used as an excuse for the riot in the regional capital Urumqi, which Bekri said was masterminded by the forces of terrorism and separatism.
In the early hours of Sunday, the Urumqi police department got a tip-off that there were calls on Internet forums for demonstrations.
The riot began around 8 p.m., when rioters started beating pedestrians and smashing up buses. The violence soon spread to many other downtown areas.
At least 140 people had died and more than 800 were injured in the riot, the regional government said Monday.
Backgrounder: Previous unrests in China's Xinjiang region
BEIJING, July 6, (Xinhua)
-- In January 2007, police destroyed a terrorist training camp in the Pamir plateau, killing 18 terrorists and capturing 17. The police also seized 22 hand grenades and more than 1,500 half-finished grenades, and some home-made explosives. One officer was killed and another injured in the raid.
-- Chinese police smashed a terrorist gang on Jan. 27, 2008 in Urumqi, the regional capital, killing two and arresting 15 others. Five police were injured during the raid when three homemade grenades were thrown at them.
-- On March 7, 2008, a 19-year female, Uygur ethnic, attempted a terrorist attack on a China Southern Airlines flight that left Urumqi for Beijing. The attempt was foiled.
-- Two terrorists, armed with guns, explosives, knives and axes, drove a heavy truck onto a team of more than 70 police in a regular morning exercise in Kashgar on August 4 last year. Seventeen people were killed and 15 injured in the attack four days before the Beijing Olympics.
-- On August 10, 2008, serial explosions occurred in the early hours in some supermarkets, hotels and government buildings in Kuqa County, killing a security guard and injuring two policemen. Eight terrorists were shot dead by police while two others killed themselves by suicidal bombings.
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