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Sympathetic internet savvy youth urged massive worldwide protests in support for the Muslim minority. |
CAIRO — With a dawn-to-dusk curfew, internet blackout, blocking graphic images of beaten and bloody bodies, bloggers and social-networking websites are giving voice to China's several-million Muslim Uighurs in the face of a massive crackdown.
"Internet has been disconnected throughout Xinjiang, a sign that the Chinese government has and will murder many more innocent Uighurs," Kekenus Sidik wrote on Facebook.
"They have confiscated phones, cell phones, computers and any other form of communication devices. They do not want the world to hear the protestors' cries for help."
At least 156 people were killed and more than 1,000 wounded when police cracked down on a protest by Uighur Muslims in Urumqi, the capital of the Muslim-majority Xinjiang region, earlier this week.
Thousands of Uighurs went to the streets in protest at China's discrimination as well as cultural and religious controls.
Exiled Uighur groups have blamed China for the death toll, saying the protests were peaceful until security forces over-reacted and fired indiscriminately at the crowds.
Several human rights groups have expressed concern over the fate of 1,434 people who were taken into police custody, saying they could be tortured or mistreated.
As police slapped a dawn-to-dusk curfew, authorities confirmed they cut off Internet access.
Li Zhi, the top Communist Party official in Urumqi, said Internet access was stopped to reassert control and prevent violence from spreading.
Beijing has been working fast to remove comments about the violence, or Internet users questioning government policies towards the Muslim region.
The social-networking website Twitter became inaccessible in China around 3 p.m. local time Monday, according to complaints posted by users on the site.
Some sites which had posted graphic images of beaten and bloody bodies, taken during or after the protests, had swiftly removed them.
Solidarity
As furious Han Chinese roamed the streets of Urumqi armed with chains, hammers and steel poles threatening Muslim Uighurs, sympathetic internet savvy youth urged massive worldwide protests in support for the Muslim minority.
"I want to show my support for the Uighurs, as they are, in my mind, one of the bravest groups in the world today," Harry Bentley-Bales wrote on Facebook.
A group named "Worldwide Protest in Honor and Support of Uighurs Dying for Freedom" was swiftly formed calling for planned protests over the coming two week in London, Turkey, Canada, Australia and Washington.
Some lament that the Uighurs' dilemma is not getting enough media attention.
"I have seen wall-to-wall coverage of Michael Jackson for the past week; meanwhile, at least 150 and perhaps as many as 500 Uighurs in China have been slaughtered, and no one in the media seems to think this is newsworthy," Miriam J. Woods wrote on South Asia Blog.
"Uighurs have long been silently oppressed by the Chinese government, and the world has paid them no attention whatsoever."
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.
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