Armed Mobs Throng Urumqi

2009-07-07

Witnesses say thousands of armed Han Chinese are on the streets of the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region's capital vowing revenge after a deadly clash.

 

2009年7月7日 
目击者说，数以千计的武装汉人是街道上的新疆维吾尔自治区首府誓言报复后的致命冲突。 

AFP

Han Chinese march with sticks and shovels on a street in Urumqi, July 7, 2009.

汉人三月用棍棒和铁锹的街道上在乌鲁木齐

“中国平民，使用俱乐部，酒吧，刀和砍刀，杀害了维吾尔， ”在慕尼黑的世界维吾尔代表大会在一份声明中说。 
“他们冲进大学宿舍，维吾尔住宅，工作场所，并组织， ”它说，谴责暴徒杀害平民保护的维吾尔人。

Telegraph correspondent Peter Foster reported via Twitter from Urumqi that thousands of armed Han Chinese had gathered near a mosque in Shanxi Alley in downtown Urumqi.

Police tried to calm the crowd, which was armed with "snooker cues, axes, machetes, baseball bats, metal scaffolding poles, cattle prods, and a plastic mop handle," according to Foster's updates.

Meanwhile, Al-Jazeera correspondent Melissa K. Chan tweeted, also from Urumqi, "A Han Chinese man with a stick just tore open our car door to beat our producer. Averted just in time."

Chan said Urumqi was now under martial law. Official media also reported further unrest. Two separate estimates by foreign journalists at the scene put the crowd at around 10,000.

外国记者在地面上在乌鲁木齐表示，他们看到武装群众数千汉人贯穿首都西北部新疆维吾尔自治区（新疆维吾尔自治区） 。 
“两名警官刚刚护送一个维吾尔女子婴儿汉族人群通过与俱乐部的人民剧场，他说： ”时间记者柯士Ramzy写道通过实时微型博客Twitter的平台。 
每日电讯报记者彼得福斯特报告通过Twitter的乌鲁木齐，数千名武装汉人聚集在附近的一个清真寺山西巷乌鲁木齐市中心。 
警方试图平息人群，这是武装与“斯诺克线索，斧头，砍刀，棒球棍，金属棚架极点，牛制作公司，和一个塑料拖把处理， ”根据福斯特的更新。 
与此同时，半岛电视台记者梅利莎光陈tweeted ，还从乌鲁木齐， “一个汉人男子用棍子我们刚刚拆开车门打败我们的制片人。避免正是时候。 ” 
安生说，现在乌鲁木齐戒严。官方媒体也报道进一步动荡。两个不同的估计，外国记者在现场把人群大约有1万名。

'Troops everywhere'

Despite Chinese officials' decision to cut off the Internet and mobile phones, pictures, videos and updates from Urumqi poured into social-networking and image-sharing Web sites including Twitter, YouTube, and Flickr.

A Han Chinese employee at a youth hostel in downtown Urumqi said, "We have a curfew now and troops are everywhere."

"We can still can drive on the streets—but I don’t know if the situation will get worse so I stored some bottles of water and instant noodles," the employee said.

"More Han Chinese live in Urumqi than Uyghurs now," he said. "Many Uyghurs are afraid to go out now. They have their own friends, and we won’t try to be their friends."

"Before it was them attacking us. Now it's our turn to attack them," another Han Chinese resident said.

But a municipal official downplayed the tensions.

"We are coming to work as usual. What do you mean, take to the streets? We will see what happens. Ask again later," the official said.

"Of course there have always been ethnic separatists. They have existed for a long time. They are always looking for ways to make trouble. They will do it as soon as they spot an opportunity," the official added.

'部队到处' 
尽管中国官员的决定切断互联网和移动电话，图片，视频和更新从乌鲁木齐涌入社会网络和图片共享网站，包括Twitter的内， YouTube ，和Flickr 。 
阿汉人雇员在市中心的青年旅馆在乌鲁木齐说， “我们现在实行宵禁和部队到处都是。 ” 
“我们仍然可以可以驱动的街道上，但我不知道情况会变得更糟，所以我储存一些瓶水和方便面， ”雇员说。 
“更多汉人生活在乌鲁木齐比维吾尔现在， ”他说。 “许多维吾尔不敢出门了。他们有自己的朋友，我们不会尝试将他们的朋友。 ” 
“以前这是他们攻击我们。现在，轮到我们来袭击他们， ”另一名汉族居民说。 
但是，市政官员淡化了紧张局势。 
“我们是来工作一切如常。你是什么意思，走上街头？我们将看看会发生什么。询问后， ”这名官员说。 
“当然，一直是民族分裂分子。他们已经存在了很长时间。他们总是寻找各种方法来制造麻烦。他们将尽快去做他们现场的机会， ”这位官员补充说。

Chaos and vigilantes

Police fired tear gas repeatedly at the protesters, who refused to disperse. Police were blocking them from getting through to an area of Urumqi populated by Uyghurs, who authorities have blamed for riots on Sunday that left 156 people dead and more than 1,000 injured.

China's state-run Xinhua news agency reported similar scenes in other parts of Urumqi.

"Chaos was seen in a number of places in Urumqi on Tuesday afternoon," the official Xinhua news agency reported.

Back in Urumqi, al-Jazeera's Chan tweeted: "There is no right or wrong anymore. Just vigilantes, Han and [Uyghur]. Mostly men but some women and even children."

"I asked a Han Chinese girl if she was scared. 'Yes, but this is to defend my country,' she says with stick in hand."

The World Uyghur Congress said it had received several reports of deaths at the hands of Han mobs in different locations in Xinjiang, which is home to a population of Turkic-speaking Uyghurs, many of whom oppose Beijing's rule, and a growing influx of migrants from the rest of China.

Ethnic tensions have simmered for decades, with Uyghurs saying they are subject to racial discrimination and have scant access to the fruits of China's breakneck economic growth of the past 30 years.

China has said some overseas Uyghur separatist groups are connected with international terrorism.

Foster reported via Shanghai-based Telegraph correspondent Malcolm Moore that some of the crowd were comparing exiled former Uyghur businesswoman Rebiya Kadeer to al-Qaeda mastermind Osama bin Laden.

The Congress statement said: "[A] Uyghur young man was mutilated on [Urumqi's] Dongbeilu. A Uyghur woman who was carrying a baby in her arms was mutilated along with her infant baby on Huanghelu."

Witnesses on the ground said the mood of the crowd was ugly, with a group of Han Chinese protesters attacking Telegraphcorrespondent Foster and his assistant, who were protected by police.

The Uyghur Congress said Chinese security forces were "not taking any action" against the attackers, and that it had received telephone threats from "ethnic Han Chinese" at its headquarters in Munich.

A Foreign Ministry spokesman said Tuesday that Sunday's violence in the region was not a peaceful protest, but "evil killing, fire-setting, and looting."

Foreign Ministry spokesman Qin Gang told a regular news briefing: "Anybody calling the violence a peaceful protest is trying to turn black into white in an attempt to mislead the public."

Urumqi Communist Party chief Li Zhi went to the scene, addressing the crowd and calling for calm. The crowd roared soon after, before rushing off in the other direction, witnesses said.

Earlier, Li had told reporters: "We immediately reinforced the emergency prevention and control measures after the riots started. Security was dispatched to the four main areas of unrest, and they swiftly took care of the matter in accordance with the law."

混沌和民团 
警方发射了催泪瓦斯，示威者多次在，谁拒绝驱散。警方阻止他们获得通过的一个领域乌鲁木齐居住的维吾尔，谁当局指责骚乱，造成周日156人死亡，超过1000人受伤。 
中国国营的新华社报道，类似的场景在其他地区的乌鲁木齐。 
“混沌，看到在一些地方乌鲁木齐市于17日下午， ”官方的新华社报道。 
回到乌鲁木齐，半岛电视台的陈tweeted ： “没有对错了。只要民团，汉族和[维吾尔] 。大多为男子，但有些妇女甚至儿童。 ” 
“我问了汉族女孩，如果她被吓坏了。 '是的，但是，这是捍卫我国， '她说，与坚持的。 ” 
世界维吾尔代表大会表示，它已经收到了几份报告的死亡之手韩暴徒在不同的地点在新疆，这是一个人口的突厥语维吾尔，其中许多人反对北京统治，以及越来越多的移民其余的中国。 
族裔之间的紧张局势已经煮了几十年，与维吾尔说，他们受到种族歧视和已很少获得的成果，中国的经济增长在过去的30年。 
中国已经表示，一些海外维吾尔分离主义团体与国际恐怖主义有关。 
福斯特报告通过总部设在上海的每日电讯报记者马尔科姆摩尔，一些球迷们比较流亡的前维吾尔女商人热比娅基地组织策划乌萨马本拉丹。 
大会声明中说： “ [一个]维吾尔青年男子被肢解的[乌鲁木齐的] Dongbeilu 。甲谁是维吾尔族妇女带着孩子在她的胳膊被肢解连同她的孩子就Huanghelu 。 ” 
目击者说，在地面上的情绪是丑恶的人群，与一批示威者袭击汉人电报记者福斯特和他的助手，谁保护，由警察。 
维吾尔大会说，中国安全部队“没有采取任何行动”的攻击，并说，它已收到电话威胁来自“汉族”在其总部设在慕尼黑。 
外交部发言人星期二说，星期天的暴力事件在该地区没有一个和平的抗议，但“邪恶杀戮，防火设置，和抢劫。 ” 
外交部发言人秦刚说，例行新闻发布会： “任何人的暴力行为，呼吁和平抗议正在试图把黑白，企图误导公众。 ” 
乌鲁木齐市党委书记李贽赶到现场，解决群众，并呼吁保持平静。人群高声叫好后，然后才从另一个方向，目击者说。 
此前，李曾告诉记者： “我们立即加强了紧急预防和控制措施后，暴动开始。安全理事会派出的四个主要领域的动荡，他们迅速地照顾这个问题依照法律规定。 ”

Internet curbs, media strategy

Also Tuesday, Li confirmed at a news conference that authorities there had cut off Internet access in parts of Urumqi to stop the flow of information that it saw as a dangerous threat.

"We cut the Internet connection in some areas of Urumqi in order to quench the riot quickly and prevent violence from spreading to other places," Li said.

The Paris-based media watchdog Reporters Without Borders accused authorities of wanting to see Urumqi "cut off from the rest of the world."

"Once again, the Chinese government has chosen to cut communications in order to prevent the free flow of information. We firmly condemn this behavior," the organization said in a statement.

Many phone lines have been disabled since the violence erupted, but others remain in working order.

Netizens inside China said the personal update service Twitter, which is frequently used to transmit keywords, news, and photos around the Chinese Web at a speed that eludes China's censors, was blocked.

"Twitter is blocked: In another act of net-nanny folly Twitter.com has been blocked on the Chinese mainland," media analysis blog Danwei commented via the service Monday.

Other users said the service was still accessible using third-party applications elsewhere on the Web.

They said sensitive keywords such as "Xinjiang" were currently returning no search results on the Chinese Web, either.

"Why is it that the moment something happens, the first thing they think of is blocking it?" user Keso tweeted. "Surely the fact that they do this shows that there are skeletons in the closet?"

Authorities have meanwhile taken the unusual step of bringing foreign reporters to Urumqi to learn about the incident and setting up a media center in a city hotel.

This contrasts with Beijing's virtual blackout on previous instances of unrest, such as the Tibetan uprising of early 2008, but is in keeping with its handling of media immediately after the May 2008 Sichuan earthquake.

But that initial openness ended amid allegations that corruption had resulted in shoddy construction of school buildings that collapsed in the quake.

Shenzhen-based media commentator Zhu Jianguo said official media reports seemed to be intensifying conflicts rather than soothing them.

"They are putting out information at a much faster speed than previously, but their approach is exactly the same as it always has been," Zhu said, suggesting the coverage was one-sided.

"Now the incident has erupted into racial conflict, and it's not a simple racial conflict either. It's all over the country—it’s a crucial point at which the government faces off against the people."

互联网限制，媒体战略 
同样在周二，李证实，在一个新闻发布会上说，当局切断了互联网接入乌鲁木齐部分停止的信息流动，它认为作为一个危险的威胁。 
“我们切断了互联网连接的一些地区，以乌鲁木齐市的暴动迅速扑灭和防止暴力蔓延到其他地方， ”他说。 
总部设在巴黎的媒体监督记者无国界指责当局希望看到乌鲁木齐“切断从世界其他地区。 ” 
“再次，我国政府已决定削减通信，以防止信息的自由流动。我们坚决谴责这种行为， ”该组织在一份声明中说。 
许多电话线已被禁用，因为发生了暴力事件，但另一些留在工作秩序。 
网民说，在中国的个人Twitter的更新服务，这是经常被用来传输关键词，新闻和照片的中文网页的速度能够躲避中国的审查，被拦截了。 
“ Twitter的封锁：在另一行为净保姆愚蠢Twitter.com已被封锁在大陆， ”媒体分析博客丹维评论通过服务星期一。 
其他用户表示，这项服务仍然可使用第三方应用程序在网络上其他地方。 
他们说，敏感的关键词，如“新疆”目前没有搜索结果返回的中文网页，无论是。 
“为什么现在发生什么事，第一件事，他们认为是阻碍它？ ”用户Keso tweeted 。 “当然，事实上，他们做到这一点表明，骨骼中的壁橱里？ ”
当局同时采取不寻常的步骤，使外国记者到乌鲁木齐，了解事件，并设立一个媒体中心城市的酒店。 
与此相反，北京的虚拟停电以往情况的动乱，如西藏起义2008年初，但符合其处理后立即媒体2008年5月四川地震。 
但是最初的开放结束因涉嫌腐败造成建筑质量低劣的学校建筑在地震中倒塌。 
深圳的媒体评论员朱建国说，官方媒体报导似乎是加强而不是冲突的抚慰他们。 
“他们推出的信息，更快的速度比以前，但他们的做法是完全一样的，因为它始终， ”他说，这表明覆盖面是片面的。 
“现在事件已演变成种族冲突，这不是一个简单的种族冲突的。这是全国各地，这是一个关键点上，政府面临的对的人。 ” 
原件报告消融的维吾尔语，汉语普通话和广东话服务。为web开发的以英文Luisetta Mudie 。编辑萨拉杰克逊汉。 
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Original reporting by RFA's Uyghur, Mandarin, and Cantonese services. Written for the Web in English by Luisetta Mudie. Edited by Sarah Jackson-Han.

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