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 
目擊者說，數以千計的武裝漢人是街道上的新疆維吾爾自治區首府誓言報復後的致命衝突。 

AFP

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

漢人三月用棍棒和鐵鍬的街道上在烏魯木齊

“中國平民，使用俱樂部，酒吧，刀和砍刀，殺害了維吾爾， ”在慕尼黑的世界維吾爾代表大會在一份聲明中說。 
“他們衝進大學宿舍，維吾爾住宅，工作場所，並組織， ”它說，譴責暴徒殺害平民保護的維吾爾人。

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.

外國記者在地面上在烏魯木齊表示，他們看到武裝群眾數千漢人貫穿首都西北部新疆維吾爾自治區（新疆維吾爾自治區） 。 
“兩名警官剛剛護送一個維吾爾女子嬰兒漢族人群通過與俱樂部的人民劇場，他說： ”時間記者柯士Ramzy寫道通過實時微型博客Twitter的平台。 
每日電訊報記者彼得福斯特報告通過Twitter的烏魯木齊，數千名武裝漢人聚集在附近的一個清真寺山西巷烏魯木齊市中心。 
警方試圖平息人群，這是武裝與“斯諾克線索，斧頭，砍刀，棒球棍，金屬棚架極點，牛製作公司，和一個塑料拖把處理， ”根據福斯特的更新。 
與此同時，半島電視台記者梅利莎光陳tweeted ，還從烏魯木齊， “一個漢人男子用棍子我們剛剛拆開車門打敗我們的製片人。避免正是時候。 ” 
安生說，現在烏魯木齊戒嚴。官方媒體也報道進一步動盪。兩個不同的估計，外國記者在現場把人群大約有1萬名。

'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.

'部隊到處' 
儘管中國官員的決定切斷互聯網和移動電話，圖片，視頻和更新從烏魯木齊湧入社會網絡和圖片共享網站，包括Twitter的內， YouTube ，和Flickr 。 
阿漢人雇員在市中心的青年旅館在烏魯木齊說， “我們現在實行宵禁和部隊到處都是。 ” 
“我們仍然可以可以驅動的街道上，但我不知道情況會變得更糟，所以我儲存一些瓶水和方便麵， ”雇員說。 
“更多漢人生活在烏魯木齊比維吾爾現在， ”他說。 “許多維吾爾不敢出門了。他們有自己的朋友，我們不會嘗試將他們的朋友。 ” 
“以前這是他們攻擊我們。現在，輪到我們來襲擊他們， ”另一名漢族居民說。 
但是，市政官員淡化了緊張局勢。 
“我們是來工作一切如常。你是什麼意思，走上街頭？我們將看看會發生什麼。詢問後， ”這名官員說。 
“當然，一直是民族分裂分子。他們已經存在了很長時間。他們總是尋找各種方法來製造麻煩。他們將儘快去做他們現場的機會， ”這位官員補充說。

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."

混沌和民團 
警方發射了催淚瓦斯，示威者多次在，誰拒絕驅散。警方阻止他們獲得通過的一個領域烏魯木齊居住的維吾爾，誰當局指責騷亂，造成周日156人死亡，超過1000人受傷。 
中國國營的新華社報道，類似的場景在其他地區的烏魯木齊。 
“混沌，看到在一些地方烏魯木齊市於17日下午， ”官方的新華社報道。 
回到烏魯木齊，半島電視台的陳tweeted ： “沒有對錯了。只要民團，漢族和[維吾爾] 。大多為男子，但有些婦女甚至兒童。 ” 
“我問了漢族女孩，如果她被嚇壞了。 '是的，但是，這是捍衛我國， '她說，與堅持的。 ” 
世界維吾爾代表大會表示，它已經收到了幾份報告的死亡之手韓暴徒在不同的地點在新疆，這是一個人口的突厥語維吾爾，其中許多人反對北京統治，以及越來越多的移民其餘的中國。 
族裔之間的緊張局勢已經煮了幾十年，與維吾爾說，他們受到種族歧視和已很少獲得的成果，中國的經濟增長在過去的30年。 
中國已經表示，一些海外維吾爾分離主義團體與國際恐怖主義有關。 
福斯特報告通過總部設在上海的每日電訊報記者馬爾科姆摩爾，一些球迷們比較流亡的前維吾爾女商人熱比婭基地組織策劃烏薩馬本拉丹。 
大會聲明中說： “ [一個]維吾爾青年男子被肢解的[烏魯木齊的] Dongbeilu 。甲誰是維吾爾族婦女帶着孩子在她的胳膊被肢解連同她的孩子就Huanghelu 。 ” 
目擊者說，在地面上的情緒是醜惡的人群，與一批示威者襲擊漢人電報記者福斯特和他的助手，誰保護，由警察。 
維吾爾大會說，中國安全部隊“沒有採取任何行動”的攻擊，並說，它已收到電話威脅來自“漢族”在其總部設在慕尼黑。 
外交部發言人星期二說，星期天的暴力事件在該地區沒有一個和平的抗議，但“邪惡殺戮，防火設置，和搶劫。 ” 
外交部發言人秦剛說，例行新聞發布會： “任何人的暴力行為，呼籲和平抗議正在試圖把黑白，企圖誤導公眾。 ” 
烏魯木齊市黨委書記李贄趕到現場，解決群眾，並呼籲保持平靜。人群高聲叫好後，然後才從另一個方向，目擊者說。 
此前，李曾告訴記者： “我們立即加強了緊急預防和控制措施後，暴動開始。安全理事會派出的四個主要領域的動盪，他們迅速地照顧這個問題依照法律規定。 ”

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."

互聯網限制，媒體戰略 
同樣在周二，李證實，在一個新聞發布會上說，當局切斷了互聯網接入烏魯木齊部分停止的信息流動，它認為作為一個危險的威脅。 
“我們切斷了互聯網連接的一些地區，以烏魯木齊市的暴動迅速撲滅和防止暴力蔓延到其他地方， ”他說。 
總部設在巴黎的媒體監督記者無國界指責當局希望看到烏魯木齊“切斷從世界其他地區。 ” 
“再次，我國政府已決定削減通信，以防止信息的自由流動。我們堅決譴責這種行為， ”該組織在一份聲明中說。 
許多電話線已被禁用，因為發生了暴力事件，但另一些留在工作秩序。 
網民說，在中國的個人Twitter的更新服務，這是經常被用來傳輸關鍵詞，新聞和照片的中文網頁的速度能夠躲避中國的審查，被攔截了。 
“ Twitter的封鎖：在另一行為淨保姆愚蠢Twitter.com已被封鎖在大陸， ”媒體分析博客丹維評論通過服務星期一。 
其他用戶表示，這項服務仍然可使用第三方應用程序在網絡上其他地方。 
他們說，敏感的關鍵詞，如“新疆”目前沒有搜索結果返回的中文網頁，無論是。 
“為什麼現在發生什麼事，第一件事，他們認為是阻礙它？ ”用戶Keso tweeted 。 “當然，事實上，他們做到這一點表明，骨骼中的壁櫥里？ ”
當局同時採取不尋常的步驟，使外國記者到烏魯木齊，了解事件，並設立一個媒體中心城市的酒店。 
與此相反，北京的虛擬停電以往情況的動亂，如西藏起義2008年初，但符合其處理後立即媒體2008年5月四川地震。 
但是最初的開放結束因涉嫌腐敗造成建築質量低劣的學校建築在地震中倒塌。 
深圳的媒體評論員朱建國說，官方媒體報導似乎是加強而不是衝突的撫慰他們。 
“他們推出的信息，更快的速度比以前，但他們的做法是完全一樣的，因為它始終， ”他說，這表明覆蓋面是片面的。 
“現在事件已演變成種族衝突，這不是一個簡單的種族衝突的。這是全國各地，這是一個關鍵點上，政府面臨的對的人。 ” 
原件報告消融的維吾爾語，漢語普通話和廣東話服務。為web開發的以英文Luisetta Mudie 。編輯薩拉傑克遜漢。 
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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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