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China demolishes houses in Urumqi
flashpoint zone
AFP , BEIJING
Monday, Jul 12, 2010, Page 1
¡§The transformation of shanty towns is a top priority for safeguarding social
stability.¡¨¡X Pan Zhiping, Xinjiang Academy of Social Sciences¡¦ Central Asia
Research Institute head
Chinese authorities are demolishing an area in the northwestern city of Urumqi,
home to migrants they blame for disrupting social order, state media said
yesterday, a year after deadly ethnic riots.
The Heijiashan area of the city in the Xinjiang autonomous region, which was
formerly home to 200,000 people, will be replaced by a new residential
development, Xinhua news agency said, describing the area as a ¡§hotbed of
poverty and crime.¡¨
Heijiashan was one of the flashpoints for the violence that erupted on July 5
last year in Urumqi between mainly Muslim Uighurs and the majority Han Chinese,
leaving nearly 200 dead and 1,700 injured.
¡§Due to the poor management of the area, the migrants were easily incited by
rioters,¡¨ the head of the demolition operation was quoted as saying. ¡§[The]
floating population here [has] often disrupted social order.¡¨
Pan Zhiping, head of the Xinjiang Academy of Social Sciences¡¦ Central Asia
Research Institute, has recommended emulating a model established by Singapore
that ensures ¡§each community has residents from different ethnic groups.¡¨
¡§The transformation of shanty towns is a top priority for safeguarding social
stability,¡¨ Xinhua quoted him as saying.
Uighurs, a Turkic-speaking people, allege that decades of Chinese oppression
and unwanted Han immigration, even while standards of living have improved, has
led to a situation in which most of the gains go to the Han Chinese.
Heijiashan attracts large numbers of migrant workers from areas outside Urumqi
with large Uighur populations such as Kashgar, Hotan and Yili, according to
previous state media reports.
More than 900 families were told to leave the area between September and
November as part of a crackdown aimed at ¡§screening out and striking hard¡¨
against ¡§itinerant society,¡¨ earlier reports said.
The government has offered new houses or compensation to residents whose homes
are being demolished, but some are contesting the offers, which they see as
inadequate, Xinhua said.
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