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China increases police force in Xinjiang
RIOT ANNIVERSARY: Overseas Uighur activists said people in Xinjiang have been
warned against holding ceremonies mourning those who died in last year¡¦s ethnic
violence
AP , BEIJING
Tuesday, Jul 06, 2010, Page 5
Passersby help a Chinese woman who broke down
yesterday in Urumqi after burning offerings in the place where one of her
relatives was killed during the bloody violence that erupted between the
region¡¦s Muslim ethnic Uighurs and members of China¡¦s majority Han ethnic group
in the city a year ago.
PHOTO: AFP
Teams of police patrolled streets in the western region of Xinjiang yesterday as
stringent security was imposed for the one-year anniversary of China¡¦s worst
ethnic violence in decades.
An ethnic Han Chinese man who runs the Little West Gate Family Hotel in the
regional capital of Urumqi said there was a ¡§noticeable increase in the number
of police on the streets,¡¨ and his family was staying indoors as a precaution.
The man, who would only give his surname, Zhang, said shoppers had to go through
airport-style security checks at the open air market in the city¡¦s center. A
receptionist surnamed Fang at the Yilong Hotel in Urumqi said on Sunday that
bags were being checked at airports, train stations, bus stops and government
offices.
Long-standing tensions between Xinjiang¡¦s minority Uighurs and majority Han
Chinese migrants flared into open violence in Urumqi one year ago. The
government said 197 people were killed in the unrest, which was triggered by the
deaths of Uighur factory workers in the country¡¦s south.
After the July 5 bloodshed, the government suspended the region¡¦s Internet and
international telephone and text messaging links for more than half a year.
Beijing ¡X which accused overseas Uighur groups of plotting the violence, a
charge they deny ¡X arrested hundreds of people and sentenced about two dozen to
death.
Overseas Uighur activist Dilxat Raxit said yesterday that people in Xinjiang
told his organization by telephone that they had been warned not to hold any
ceremonies mourning those who died a year ago.
¡§Many people had planned to mark the occasion, which is traditional to do a year
after people have died, but word came through the various neighborhood
committees that it wasn¡¦t allowed,¡¨ he said.
Raxit, a spokesman for the Germany-based World Uyghur Congress, also reiterated
his group¡¦s appeal for China to allow an independent investigation into the
riots.
Xinjiang¡¦s public security bureau said in a statement on Sunday that residents
were going about their business as usual, following campaigns to seize illegal
weapons and explosives, and increased security in areas with higher rates of
crime. It did not give details.
A public security spokeswoman reached for comment yesterday said the situation
in the region was ¡§normal,¡¨ but wouldn¡¦t elaborate. Like many officials, she
refused to give her name.
China¡¦s leaders say all ethnic groups are treated equally and point to the
billions of dollars in investment that has modernized Xinjiang, a strategically
vital region with significant oil and gas deposits.
However, authorities have been accused of alienating the Uighurs, Turkic
Muslims who are ethnically and linguistically distinct from the Han majority,
with tight restrictions on cultural and religious expression, and nonviolent
dissent.
Many Uighurs say they suffer discrimination in jobs and they cannot get loans or
passports.
Ilham Tohti, an ethnic Uighur economics professor at the Central Nationalities
University in Beijing who has been detained for his frank criticism of the
problems in Xinjiang, said too many Uighurs are wary of speaking out.
¡§Uighurs do not even trust their friends and colleagues, let alone Han Chinese
and the government. So there has been an overall reduction in trust. Why is
this? Because we do not know which one among us could be an informant,¡¨ Tohti
said.
¡§People are afraid to express their opinions, and are afraid to say something
wrong, which could harm their lives,¡¨ Tohti said.
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