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At least 140 people were killed and hundreds wounded when Chinese police cracked down a protest by Uighur Muslims in Urumqi. (Reuters) |
URUMQI, China — Scattered bodies and a pool of dried blood bear witness to China's deadly crackdown on Muslim protests and stifling discrimination in the Muslim-majority Xinjiang region.
"The Chinese always treat us as so low," an ethnic Uighur Muslim told Agence France-Presse (AFP) on Monday, July 6, requesting anonymity.
"They don't even want to look us in the eye because we are too low," added the man, who owns a dry-cleaning shop in the regional capital Urumqi.
At least 140 people were killed and hundreds wounded when police cracked down on a protest by Uighur Muslims in Urumqi on Sunday, July 6.
Thousands of Uighurs went to the streets, burning and smashing vehicles in protest at China's discrimination as well as cultural and religious controls on Uighurs in Xinjiang.
Testifying to the crackdown, a meter-wide pool of dried blood lay on the ground near the Donghuan market, just east of the bazaar district where much of the protest unfolded.
A few blood-stained bricks were scattered close by.
China vowed to use the strongest means possible to prevent the protests from spreading to other areas.
"Xinjiang will prevent the situation from spreading to other areas using the most powerful measures and methods and safeguard regional stability," Nur Bekri, the chairman of Xinjiang, was quoted as saying by the China News Service.
Up to 2,000 helmeted riot police dressed in khaki fatigues and wielding shields and batons are patrolling the streets of the Muslim-majority region as paramilitary policemen armed with semi-automatic guns stand watch at major intersections.
Several truckloads of German Shepherd guard dogs were driving up and down main avenues.
"They look down on us. This has been going on for centuries," said the Uighur man.
Xinjiang and its Uighur Muslims, a Turkish-speaking minority of more than eight million, continue to be the subject of massive security crackdowns.
Muslims accuses the government of settling millions of ethnic Han in their territory with the ultimate goal of obliterating its identity and culture.
They also cite a recent government plan that has brought the teaching of Mandarin Chinese in Xinjiang schools, replacing their local dialect.
Beijing views the vast region as an invaluable asset because of its crucial strategic location near Central Asia and its large oil and gas reserves.
Anger
Uighur Muslim leaders blamed China's iron-fist policies in the Muslim region for the deadly protests.
"The East Turkestan issue has reached a critical juncture and the Chinese government must act now to address Uighur concerns," Rebiya Kadeer, the head of the Uighur American Association (UAA), said in a statement e-mailed to IslamOnline.net, using the old name of the region.
Kadeer said the protest was an outpouring of pent-up anger over government policies and Han Chinese dominance of economic opportunities.
"This incident could have been avoided if the Chinese authorities had properly investigated the Shaoguan killings," she said.
Two Uighur workers were killed last month in a clash with Han Chinese and Uighur factory workers in Shaoguan.
"Young Uighur exercised their right to peacefully protest the mishandling of the killings and were in turn met with government violence," said Kadeer.
"The Chinese authorities should not only find those responsible for the killing of Uighurs in Shaoguan and Urumchi, but it should also release all those Uighurs detained in Urumchi during the protest and compensate those Uighurs killed and injured."
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