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China installs 40,000 cameras in
Xinjiang
BIG 'BROTHER' WATCHES: The security cameras, complete with 'riot-proof'
protective shells, were installed just before the one year anniversary of
violent ethnic clashes
AP , BEIJING
Saturday, Jul 03, 2010, Page 1
Uighur women sell prayer mats before Friday
prayers outside a mosque in Urumqi, Xinjiang, yesterday, ahead of the first
anniversary of bloody violence that erupted between the region¡¦s Uighurs and Han
Chinese.
PHOTO: AFP
China has installed about 40,000 high-definition surveillance cameras in the
western region of Xinjiang days before the one year anniversary of the country's
worst ethnic violence in decades.
The security cameras with ¡§riot-proof¡¨ protective shells will be monitored by
police at more than 4,000 public locations, including on city streets and buses
and in schools and shopping malls, city government spokesman Ma Xinchun (°¨·s¬K)
said yesterday.
Long-simmering tensions between Xinjiang's minority Uighurs and majority Han
Chinese migrants turned into open violence in the streets of Urumqi ¡X the
capital of the traditionally Muslim region ¡X in July last year. The government
says 197 people were killed. Beijing blamed overseas Uighur groups of plotting
the violence, but exile groups denied it.
China appeared caught by surprise a year ago when anger over a brawl between
Uighurs and Han in another part of the country boiled over despite Xinjiang's
typically high police presence and tight Internet monitoring. After the July 5
violence, the region's Internet, international telephone and text messaging
links to the outside world were not restored for more than half a year.
The installation of thousands of surveillance cameras follows an ongoing
crackdown on violent crime launched there last month, as well as the hiring of
about 5,000 new police officers in Xinjiang.
¡§You can see more police patrolling and carrying rifles,¡¨ a woman surnamed Jing
said by phone yesterday from Urumqi¡¦s Hongshan New Century Shopping Center,
where she works. ¡§If you walk down any street, you see them every once in a
while, often in groups.¡¨
People are carrying their identification cards everywhere and those from outside
the city must get a temporary residence card, which authorities have been
checking strictly, an operator surnamed Liu said at Urumqi's Torch Hotel.
Beijing labels those opposing Chinese authority over Xinjiang as ¡§terrorists.¡¨
Late last month, it announced it uncovered a gang of ¡§hardcore terrorists¡¨ who
it said had plotted attacks in southern Xinjiang cities between July and October
last year. Chinese Ministry of Public Security spokesman Wu Heping (ªZ©M¥) took no
questions from reporters and his assertions could not be independently verified.
The announcement came a day after local officials launched a ¡§Love the great
motherland, build a beautiful homeland¡¨ patriotic education campaign aimed at
establishing that ¡§the ethnic minorities are inseparable from the Han.¡¨
The Washington-based Uyghur Human Rights Project (UHRP) yesterday called for the
Chinese government to support an independent, international investigation into
last year's violence. The group also asked the government to release Uighurs it
says have been detained without charge, end the use of crackdowns and address
the issues behind the region's tensions.
¡§Government accounts of the unrest in Urumqi in July and September have
consistently demonized Uighurs as violent criminals and terrorists, and Urumqi
residents told UHRP that government propaganda fanned public hatred against
Uighurs and deepened ethnic discord in the city,¡¨ the group said.
China¡¦s leaders say all ethnic groups are treated equally and point to the
billions of dollars in investment that has modernized the strategically vital
region with significant oil and gas deposits. In May, the government announced
plans to inject nearly US$1.5 billion into the region, starting next year.
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