Uighurs protest outside Chinese consulate in Sydney

(SMH) - Uighur protesters have rallied outside the Chinese consulate in Sydney, demanding freedom and justice for their Muslim countrymen in China.



They chanted "freedom to Uighurs" and "shame on you murderers" in front of the closed consulate in Camperdown.

Some carried banners reading "World listen to our plea" while others draped themselves in chains symbolising the oppression of their people in China.

The rally was in response to the deaths of 156 Uighurs in a Chinese military crackdown in Xianjing in western China at the weekend during what was intended to be a peaceful protest.

Retaliatory attacks have continued and ethnic tensions remain between the Uighurs and Han Chinese.

Australian Uighur Association spokesman Kuranda Seyit contrasted the Sydney protest with the Chinese rally.

"We are gathered here today at a peaceful protest," Mr Seyit told the crowd.

"There's nobody shooting us. There's nobody hitting us with sticks. There is nobody oppressing us.

"We want our freedom and democratic rights to express our disappointment and anger with the Chinese authorities.

"This is how a free and open society can be and this is what we want in China ... for the Uighur people."

However, police tackled and arrested one protester after he threw an egg at the consulate gates.

The 41-year-old was issued with a court order for throwing a missile in a public place, police said.

Mr Seyit called on the international community to pressure China after it supported Beijing's successful bid to host the Olympic Games.

"With one hand they open their palms to welcome the people of the world and with the other they are beating and killing Uighur people," he said.

"How on earth can the rest of the world tolerate this injustice against the Uighur people?"

The Uighur association's general secretary Mamtimin Ala said about 2,000 Uighurs live in Australia.

"I strongly urge the Australian government to put diplomatic pressure on China to exercise maximum restraints to handle this problem in a more ration and moral and legal way," Mr Ala said.

Australian Federation of Islamic Councils president Ikebal Patel said he deplored the attacks in China's only region with a Muslim majority.

He said a longstanding relationship between Muslims and Chinese for more than 1,400 years should not be allowed to be overtaken by violence and injustice.

"Australian Muslims appeal to the Chinese government to realise that persecution of its Muslims will not go unnoticed nor uncommented upon," Mr Patel said in a statement.

South Australian independent MP Kris Hanna has organised a rally in Adelaide on Thursday calling for the military crackdown in Xianjing to be condemned.

"Just as in Tibet, this is a disturbing case of old-fashioned imperialism by a repressive autocracy intolerant of cultural diversity," Mr Hanna said in a statement.

"In spite of our economic relationship with China, we need to tell Beijing that brutal violence and unjustified killing on ethnic or religious grounds is wrong and an offence to humanity."

AAP - July 8, 2009 - 5:21PM

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China's Urumqi divided along tense ethnic lines

SMH

The flashpoint city of Urumqi has become China's Baghdad, a fearful resident said, as thousands of troops draw a line in the sand to prevent new ethnic unrest between the Han and Uighur people.

A demarcation line was set up along Renmin Road, the east-west artery through the city where troops carrying semi-automatic machine guns and heavy batons cut the city in half to separate the two communities.

Thousands of Han Chinese, armed with clubs, metal pipes and blunt weapons, had crossed the road the day before seeking revenge against Muslim Uighurs after riots Sunday.

Residents welcomed the security but many, especially Uighurs, expressed fears for the future.

"I'm afraid there will be more violence," said a Uighur man named Ali, who was allowed through security along with many other Uighurs to head home after spending a tense night at his workplace on the north side of the boundary.

"There was too much hatred around now. The future looks bad."

He also expressed fear about going home because of reports circulating among Uighurs that Chinese police were breaking into Uighur homes to arrest suspected rioters from Sunday.

The Han are China's dominant ethnic group, making up 91.5 percent of the nation's 1.3 billion people, according to the latest government figures.

But in Xinjiang, a vast region of deserts and mountains bordering Central Asia, eight million Turkic-speaking Uighurs make up nearly half the population.

Uighurs have consistently complained about discrimination and repression under communist Chinese rule over the past 60 years, accusations the government denies.

Many Han people also felt the dividing line between the two sides in Urumqi would likely last a long time, in a figurative if not physical sense.

"This will be very difficult to resolve. There is a lot of bad blood now because of the Uighurs," said Chen Xiping, 32.

"We needed this security because Urumqi has become our Baghdad."

But other Han were more optimistic.

"We will return to normal soon. I'm confident," said a Han man named Run as he watched army trucks rumbling along Renmin Road.

"This week we have seen the worst violence in Urumqi in 60 years. That shows that we basically have stability between the people."

However, illustrating the ethnic division, he rejected Uighur accusations of political, religious and cultural oppression by China.

"No, no, no, that's nonsense," he said.

"There is religious freedom and cultural freedom in China. They have as much freedom as we do."

But a Uighur eye doctor named Halisha said that type of attitude was one of the reasons behind the recent unrest.

"The Uighur people are always kept down by Chinese. So there will continue to be anger," said Halisha, who spent Tuesday night in his clinic in the Uighur district because he could not return to his home north of the security line.

AFP - July 8, 2009 - 4:02PM

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Crowd vents fury at police after bloodshed

Fury ... a woman shoves Chinese soldiers in riot gear as angry locals confront authorities in Urungi. "Release our husbands, free our sons," they chanted. Photo: Reuters (check the video on the SMH site)

John Garnaut Herald Correspondent in Urumqi -SMH
July 8, 2009

CHINA'S far-western Xinjiang province was again at flashpoint last night after a large crowd of distraught Uygur women carrying their babies confronted riot police in the heart of the provincial capital, Urumqi.

About 100 women in traditional Uygur dress and headscarves openly defied Chinese police - many carrying revolvers, rifles and tear-gas guns - to punch their fists in the air and demand the release of their sons and husbands, who they said had been beaten by police and taken to unknown destinations.

"Release our husbands, free our sons," chanted the women in the Uygur language. The crowd was swelled by hundreds of local residents who at one stage were beaten back by riot police with batons. Further bloodshed was narrowly averted - directly in front of the Herald - when a small group of Uygur men held back the crowd when it coalesced in a line to advance on riot police who were brandishing batons and advancing on them.

The line of riot police was engaged in a violent skirmish before being ordered to retreat. Later, senior police officers shouted amid the mayhem to restrain their troops, many of whom were armed and visibly angry.

A teenage Uygur boy next to me picked up a brick, broke it in half on the kerbside and moved to throw it at police before being persuaded to drop it.

Yesterday's extraordinary protests were fuelled by unconfirmed rumours that police had opened fire in a nearby area on Sunday night, killing many, and that mass arrests were continuing late yesterday.

The majority of protesters appeared beyond caring about their own physical safety despite, or perhaps because of, Xinjiang's recent history of protesters and rioters being met with brutal police reprisals.

The Chinese Government said 156 people were killed on Sunday night, mainly in Urumqi, by far the biggest officially acknowledged death toll from any civil unrest since the massacre in Tiananmen Square 20 years ago.

One Uygur onlooker told the Herald he had seen police shooting protesters on Sunday night - he said hundreds had been killed - but the Herald was been unable to verify any of the claims. Yesterday's protests began about 11am local time, and within 30 minutes police separated the protesting men and chased them down an adjacent lane.

The women and children remained to stage a sit-in on the bitumen of Dawen South Road, sandwiched between approaching lines of armed police in military camouflage and riot police with loaded tear gas canisters.

One young man who had incited the crowd was taken away in handcuffs but the Herald witnessed no further arrests. The women were leaving the scene about 11.45am when the Herald and other foreign journalists were asked to leave.

The incident appeared to have been inadvertently triggered and then constrained by the presence of foreign journalists who had been taken there by bus by the Government.

The tour had been intended to display the damage to burnt out car yards from Sunday and show that the tension was under control. Before the protests, a worker at the Geely car yard, who gave his name as Mr Xi, showed bruises on his arm and abdomen from rioters who swept through the area on Dawan South Road on Sunday night.

"I was protecting the yard with about 10 others when a couple of Uygurs entered," he said.

"I thought I could stop them but they chased me into the basement, where I hid under cars. But they dragged me out and beat me before I escaped back under the car again. I couldn't see clearly - I was covering my head - but I was beaten with sticks, rocks and other objects."

He said there were about 600 or 700 people in the crowd on Sunday night.

While the Herald interviewed him, before yesterday's protests, police shouted at Uygurs to disperse as I approached them, making it difficult to report their side of the story.

One young Uygur man, Atili, showed me a large bruise on his arm, which he said he received on Monday afternoon when police beat him while he was attempting to sell naan bread on the side of the road.

I asked if he had seen TV footage of the riots and he replied: "Our electricity has been cut off; we have not been allowed out even to get food."

Other Uygurs confirmed they were hungry and had not been allowed out since Sunday, even though the official police curfew applies only at night.

The short guided tour of Dawan South Road confirmed beyond doubt that large numbers of Xinjiang's Uygurs, who comprise nearly half the autonomous region's population, are fed up with decades of what they say is political, economic and physical repression under the tight leash of the Chinese Communist Party.

The cycles of protests, police violence, riots and further police repression have not ended.

Yesterday at 3.20pm more than a thousand angry Chinese vigilantes marched down the road outside the Haide Hotel and past the People's Square, one of Urumqi's most heavily guarded areas.

They were all armed with heavy, metre-long wooden and metal poles and some carried large carving knives.

"I've volunteered to protect the streets," said one man, carrying a wooden pole.

An elderly man chanted: "Protect the fruits of development."

After marching for four blocks the vigilante crowd was dispersed with tear gas, according to witnesses.

THE SEEDS OF PROTEST

Who are the Uygurs?
They are Muslims who live in Xinjiang, an enormous oil-rich desert province to the north of Tibet. Uygurs have their own Turkic language and a rich cultural and trading history.

Why are they rioting?
The protest was to call for an inquiry into the deaths of two Uygur factory workers in southern China last month. However, the Uygur population has grown increasingly resentful of Chinese rule.

Does Xinjiang want independence from China?
Communist officials say there is a threat from Uygur nationalists. After the September 11, 2001, attacks, China pushed the US to classify two little-known separatist groups, the East Turkestan Islamic Movement and the East Turkestan Liberation Organisation, as terrorist organisations. Several Uygurs were held in Guantanamo Bay. But there remains scant evidence of a serious separatist movement.

Telegraph, London

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Chinese troops flood into restive Urumqi

Armed Chinese soldiers in riot gear run down a main street leading to the end of the city occupied by ethnic Uighurs in the city of Urumqi in China's Xinjiang Autonomous Region. Photo: Reuters

(SMH) -China poured troops into the restive city of Urumqi today in a massive show of force, but fresh unrest flared as Han Chinese and Muslim Uighurs armed themselves with makeshift weapons.

As one of the worst spikes in ethnic tensions to have hit China in decades showed no signs of easing, President Hu Jintao abandoned a Group of Eight summit in Italy to deal with the crisis.

In Urumqi, the capital of the remote northwest Xinjiang region where 156 people died in riots on Sunday, army helicopters circled overhead as thousands of soldiers and riot police filled the city shouting out "protect the people".

"We support this. The government has to take action to protect the people," said a Han Chinese man surnamed Run, 45, as he watched the troops roll by in trucks.

"But they should have got here sooner. It took them three days to do this. Why so long?"

After authorities blamed Muslim Uighurs for Sunday's unrest that also left more than 1000 people injured, Han Chinese took to the streets Tuesday with shovels, meat cleavers and other makeshift weapons vowing to defend themselves.

The city descended into chaos as mobs, sometimes made up of thousands of Han, surged towards Uighur neighbourhoods, only to be pushed back by security forces who fired volleys of tear gas.

After a night-time curfew was declared on Tuesday, Chinese authorities appeared determined to show they were able to maintain order, with some troops carrying rifles with bayonets affixed.

Thousands of riot police wearing helmets and carrying shields lined up on a main road in Urumqi dividing the city centre from a Uighur district, with columns of soldiers behind them.

Military trucks rolled by with loudspeakers blaring: "Everybody please cooperate, please go home."

But while the mobs had not returned and there was no more bloodshed, many Han Chinese and some Uighurs were still carrying makeshift weapons in the city centre and outlying districts, AFP reporters witnessed Wednesday.

In one incident, about 200 Uighurs armed with sticks, pipes and rocks began protesting directly in front of a police cordon that was dividing their neighbourhood from a Han-populated area, one AFP reporter said.

A smaller group of Uighurs had been trading insults and accusations with Han who were on the other side of the cordon and similarly armed with makeshift weapons.

The crowd of Uighurs grew after a helicopter dropped leaflets blaming Sunday's unrest on exiled Uighur leader Rebiya Kadeer, but they also claimed police had overnight allowed Han Chinese to freely attack Muslim areas.

"Last night about 300 Han came through the security over there (pointing to the police cordon) and they attacked people's homes and smashed up a restaurant," Akbar, 20, told AFP.

It was not immediately possible to verify the accusations.

During Wednesday's stand-off the Uighurs yelled at police but there were no immediate violent clashes. Police moved foreign reporters away from the scene after about 15 minutes, stopping them from being able to witness events.

Earlier in the day and in the mainly Han-populated part of town, one woman in her 30s was seen walking on the street carrying a large stick with nails coming out of it, while others were carrying knives and steel poles.

Many shops and businesses remained closed and there were no buses or taxis running through the centre of town.

Highlighting the severity of the crisis, the government announced Hu had cut short a trip to Italy for the G8 summit.

"In light of the current situation in Xinjiang, President Hu Jintao returned to China early this morning," the foreign ministry said.

International alarm over the crisis intensified, with Muslim countries, the United Nations and the European Union expressing concern.

Xinjiang's eight million Uighurs make up nearly half the population of the region, a vast area of deserts and mountains rich in natural resources that borders Central Asia.

The Turkic-speaking people have long complained of repression and discrimination under Chinese rule, but Beijing insists it has brought economic prosperity to the region.

AFP

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Hu Jintao leaves G8 as riots in China escalate

(news.com.au) -CHINESE President Hu Jintao, on an official visit to Italy for the G8 summit, has decided to return to China due to the situation in Xinjiang where riots have claimed more than 150 lives, ANSA news agency reports.

"Given the worsening of the disorder in Xinjiang, President Hu Jintao has decided to move forward his return to China and not participate in the G8 summit'" which opens on Wednesday in the central Italian town of L'Aquila, Tang Heng, first political counsellor at the Chinese embassy in Rome, was quoted as saying.

Mr Hu, visiting Pisa in Tuscany, "is leaving this town to return to Beijing," the Italian news agency said.

State Councillor Dai Bingguo would take part in the summit of the Group of Eight and major developing countries on Mr Hu's behalf, China's official Xinhua news agency reported.

Fresh ethnic strife erupted in Urumqi, capital of China's remote northwest Xinjiang region, yesterday as thousands of angry Han Chinese armed with poles, meat cleavers and other makeshift weapons stormed through the streets as the flashpoint city riven by ethnic tensions descended into chaos.

Heavily armed security forces fired tear gas at the crowds and ordered a night curfew in an effort to restore calm in Urumqi, where 156 people died in weekend clashes.

G8 leaders gathering in Italy faced deepening crises in Iran and China and a warning that the worst political and social effects of the global economic downturn are still to come.

Leaders of the Group of Eight (G8) industrialised nations and a host of emerging powers meet until Friday in the city of L'Aquila, which was devastated in April by an earthquake that killed nearly 300 people.

From correspondents in Rome
Agence France-Presse

VIDEO below by Sydney Morning Herald: Violence in China: eyewitness

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China riots: 156 dead in ethnic unrest

Peaceful China sitting in the Angels House of the UN,
is killing peaceful protesters back at home where no-one can see...
Why is Satan allowed to sit in the House of Peace?

By John Garnaut

(SMH) - Urumqi, the capital of the Xinjiang region in western China, was locked locked down under curfew last night after being rocked by the deadliest officially-acknowledged violence since the Tiananmen massacres of 1989.

The state news agency Xinhua said the death toll has risen to 156 with more than 800 injured, but it still remains impossible to verify who has been killing who.

The streets of Urumqi were deserted last night. Police road blocks throughout the city ensured the trickle of authorised traffic was confined to main arterial roads.

This correspondent was corralled into a minivan whose driver worked in the local Tourism Bureau, and who took advantage of his privileged road access to charge us more than twelve times the usual fare to get to us downtown.

Foreign journalists have been ushered to the Hai De Hotel, where they can file stories and receive online information at a specially designated press centre.

In contrast to Tibet, when foreign journalists were locked out of the region, The State Council's Information Office has decided to allow foreign journalists into Urumqi under controlled conditions.

But internet connections are unavailable elsewhere across the city while mobile phone and international dialling coverage appears to remain off-limits for most Urumqi locals.

Men in camouflage uniforms loiter on an armoured personal carrier outside the Hai De Hotel. Next to them are troop-carrying trucks including one which is decorated with a huge red banner: "The People's Armed Police Love the People, Stopping Riots for the People". (JEG's: does that mean "killing innocent people to stop the riots?" but who created the riot, it was a peaceful protest, not a riot.)

Elsewhere in Urumqi, it seems, internet connections and many mobile phone services have been cut.

Chinese official media have released only sparse details of the events of the violence and their causes, including television footage of burning vehicles and bloodied and dazed civilians, who appeared to be of the dominant Han Chinese ethnic group.

There are anecdotal reports of gunfire on Sunday night which appears to be corroborated by the background sounds in amateur footage posted on video sharing sites.

Uighur people now make up slightly less than half of the Xinjiang population, but in Urumqi they are a small minority, after waves of Han and Hui (Islamic) Chinese migration from the east.

The city is deeply divided on racial grounds, with Uighurs and Han Chinese often refusing to interact with each other even in commercial transactions.

In September last year, a Han Chinese driver in Urumqi refused to let this correspondent into his taxi before apologising to my Chinese-looking assistant: "I'm sorry, I thought he was Uighur".

Uighurs routinely boycott Han Chinese stores and individuals from both groups frequently categorise the other in offensive racial terms.

Uighurs have largely missed out on the region's recent resource-driven economic boom.

Since 1997 and particularly since March last year China's security apparatus has further inflamed tensions by singling out Uighurs for special restrictions and surveillance.

Uighurs on a plane from Beijing said their Beijing homes had been under constant surveillance yesterday by plain-clothed police, though they have no knowledge of or connection to the Xinjiang violence.

Today Chinese officials have said they will release more information and conduct a guided tour of the riot scene.

As of this morning, however, there remained only fragments of information and a trickle of unverified reports about what may be the deadliest violence to have rocked China in 20 years.

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