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Chinese troops force calm on city torn by ethnic riots
Ed Harris09.07.09
Chinese security forces put on a show of strength in the tense Xinjiang capital today after days of ethnic violence that has killed 150 people.
Crowds of Han Chinese, China's dominant ethnic group, cheered as trucks full of police, covered in banners reading "We must defeat the terrorists", rumbled through Urumqi, .
Uighur residents looked on with strained faces. "This makes me scared and I think it's meant to," said a Uighur woman called Adila. "What can we do against so many soldiers?" Paramilitary police continued to guard People's Square, while military helicopters flew over the city of 2.3 million people.
The region's worst ethnic violence in decades has forced President Hu Jintao to cut short his trip to the G8 summit in Italy
Yesterday the Communist Party said it would seek the death penalty for anyone involved in the rioting.
Xinjiang is home to the Uighurs, largely Muslim, who rioted on Sunday and attacked Han Chinese in anger over the deaths last month of Uighur factory workers during a brawl in a southern Chinese city.
Reader views (6)
We Han people simply don't understand why Uighur terrorists are doing this to us, after being given so many preferential treatment. They pay less tax, their children can go to university with much lower score than han people etc..
- Lin, Shanghai,China
The western media should stop the practice of taking side of whoever creating trouble for the Chinese govenment/people.
The riot apparently is started up by the extremist who pro Xinjiang independence. These thugs randomly attacked/butchered people, most of them Han chinese, but also some Uighurs. When the Hans and the Uighurs start fight each other as two ethinic groups, people like Rebiya would reek the benefit. Rebiya should go to hell.
- Ek, UK
Actually ethnic policy carried out in decades by government have led to more and more dissatisfactions amid not only Han-chinese but also Uighurs. Authorities want to give preferential treatment to Uighurs , but it do not result in harmony.
Han-chinese believe that authoritied did not protect them in time in riot. And most of people include Uighurs are afraid of gap between different ethnic after unrest.
Only mob and person who have ulterior motives will be benifit from this grief.
- Another Tgfcer, Shanghai China
Chinese Americans do not have any sympathy to "mother mulah" Kadeer or any of her uighurs carzy nuts. the majority of Chinese Americans do not have ill wishes towards either China - our ancestors' home land or Chinese people -- our brothers and sisters by blood. China has Chinese Americans' full support!
China should and will rule these crazy uighurs thugs by "blood and iron". As a Chinese, I am really proud of the bloody blow Chinese government has dealt to these uighurs thugs.
Chinese leaders should follow the footsteps of Bismarck - China " must collect and keep its strength for the right moment, which has been missed several times already"; China's "frontiers ?. are not conducive to a healthy national life; it is not by means of speeches and majority resolutions that the great issues of the day will be decided-that was the great mistake ?.-but by blood and iron"!
in Just one night - 2000 crazy uighurs seperatists rioters and 140+ shot dead and 1400+ arrests and 800 casualties - wow! That will surely teach those uighurs nuts and tibetan monks a serious lesson - do not ever mess with CHINESE!
the extraordinary harshness and swiftness of the crack down and the promptness the government handled it and anounced it tells the world loud and clear - the Chinese Nation bears absolutely no mercy towards seperation by any minorities. China has Chinese Americans' full support!
- Kalibaba, San Francisco, California
Please be advised, the most of the victims in this riot are Chinese Han people. They are attacked and brutally butchered by organized Uighur terrorists. Those terrorists suddenly and randomly attacked innocent people (not only Han Chinese, but also residents of other ethnics) in streets, using blades, hammers and knives. Victims including women, and children. Those criminals also attacked and burned buses and stores in street…
All innocent residents are badly hoping the Chinese authority to send security forces to protect them. Now the police forces finally showed, let’s hope the city will regain order soon.
And let’s hope all the bad people are responsible for those murders will be held accountable for their crime.
- Tgfcer, Shanghai China
Some interesting information for your better understanding of the position of Uighur in China:
1)Uighurs are allowed to have more children while China still has its strict policy of one child for Han Chinese.
2)In Xinjiang, it's a law that the 60% of vacancy in the government and state-owned unit like factories, school etc.. are only open to Non-Han people incl.Uighurs, even the population of Han is more than 40% already there. To reduce the unemployment of Uighurs, the government encourage the industrial coastal area to hire more Uighurs, which also cuased the conflict in Guangdong, 2000 km south east to Xinjiang in June.
3) Uighurs are allowed to carry knifes with themselves as tradition, but it's illegal if Han-Chinese brings. that's one of the main reason that so many Han-Chinese were killed on the street bloodily on 05/07.
From my point of view, Chinese government knows the difference between Han-Chinese which has more than 97% of Chinese population and Uighurs, and try to give them some advantage but not only treat them equally and carefully, but generally speaking Uighurs have less education background and difference on culture and religion(Muslim)with Han-Chiense, problem is always there before the problems are solved.
Both Han-Chinese and probably Uighurs are not happy with the situation, and both sides think it's not fair for them.
It's time to change for Hu's government.
- Huang, William, Shanghai, China
