Reporter's notebook: Boiling emotions in China
Story Highlights
Scenes of violence subside on streets of Urumqi
Anti-riot police out in force on city's streets
No signs of organized protests Wednesday
By Jaime FlorCruz
CNN Beijing Bureau Chief
URUMQI, China (CNN) -- Han Chinese protesters were out in the streets, not far from our hotel near the People's Square, on Tuesday. A lot of the Han Chinese own shops in the area and there are some hospitals in the vicinity.
When we saw the protesters marching in the streets, we simply followed them. It was, in a way, a little dicey, because obviously there was raw emotion among them. There is also raw emotion on the part of the Uyghurs. So, we had to keep in mind safety and security. In fact, while we were shooting pictures for our report, some of the protesters turned to us and told us, "stop shooting, stop shooting."
We saw hundreds of Han Chinese holding sticks and pipes basically calling for severe punishment of the Uyghurs, who they say committed serious crimes during Sunday's deadly rioting.
The Han Chinese protesters also say they are out to defend themselves if they have to. I saw policemen and local officials trying to talk to them and convince the crowd to disperse. We haven't heard about any serious confrontations between the Han Chinese protesters and Uyghurs, but we heard that the police dispersed protesters in some places using tear gas.Watch how tensions remain high in Xinjiang »
When we got close to the Uyghur-populated area, we were stopped by the police and told to get in their jeeps. They said it was for our own safety. They probably were right. We may have been pushing our luck and could have gotten caught in potential confrontations and clashes.
Before that, we stopped and talked with a doctor in front of a small traditional Chinese hospital close to the People's Square. The doctor said the Han Chinese are trying to defend themselves. He was very angry about the violence reported on Sunday.
He said that they are fed up with what they saw, they felt that it was unspeakable that young people, old people and women were beaten up, helpless people who just happened to be in the wrong place. So there is this very visceral anger among many Han Chinese.
During the march on Tuesday, there were different groups, kind of in waves, marching through the streets. A few times they converged. I would say it was pretty spontaneous. Pent up emotions, boiling over.
Ethnic tensions run deep in this region, with minority groups such as the Uyghur Muslims complaining they are subjected to discrimination by the majority Han, despite government guarantees of equal rights. The Uyghurs say they've been victimized and that many of those killed in the recent violence were Uyghurs.
Local officials on Tuesday organized a press conference and they called in three ethnic Uyghur religious leaders who condemned Sunday's violence. The vice chairman of the Muslim Association said what happened on Sunday was against the spirit of the Quran, the holy book of Islam, and of Uyghur tradition and religion.
Right now (Wednesday morning), we are driving around Urumqi in a taxi and we see fairly light traffic. On our way we have seen anti-riot police taking positions in major intersections. This is a build-up from yesterday -- the arrival of reinforcements of People's Armed Police. I talked with a local official Wednesday morning. She told me that it is very important that they show they are in charge and that they are taking measures to ensure the safety of residents.
The local official told me this morning that, in a way, the protests on the part of the Han Chinese were probably unavoidable because people were looking to blow off steam, especially since the Internet has been down.
The Internet, in other circumstances, has played a role in allowing people to release pent-up anger. But without the Internet, many of the Chinese, especially the young, have bottled-up rage stoked by the images of violence they've seen in the Chinese media. The local authorities are urging residents to show restraint.
Wednesday morning, I saw a few people holding sticks but there were no signs of organized protests. I didn't see the kind of violence or antagonism I saw on Tuesday, but I think it is still a very fluid situation.
- posted on 07/08/2009
Clashes Subside as Troops Arrive in Chinese Region
By Ariana Eunjung Cha
Washington Post Foreign Service
Wednesday, July 8, 2009 11:26 AM
URUMQI, China, July 8 -- The Chinese government blanketed this strife-torn city with 20,000 new security troops on Wednesday, as thousands of residents began to flee following the deadly ethnic clashes that erupted over the weekend.
The top Communist Party official in Urumqi, the capital of China's far-western Xinjiang region, said that order had been restored and that the government would seek the death penalty for the perpetrators of the violence, which has claimed at least 156 lives. The official, Li Zhi, said many of the suspects were students.
The violence began Sunday after a demonstration by ethnic Muslim Uighurs -- upset over a stalled investigation into the death of two Uighur factory workers -- apparently spun out of control, with participants attacking Han Chinese and their businesses. Witnesses said security troops fired shots at the protesters while Han Chinese retaliated against Uighurs with weapons made of household items ranging from kitchen knives to pipes and steel bars.
When it was all over, more than 1,000 people had been injured in one of the bloodiest clashes since the founding of the People's Republic of China 60 years ago.
The unrest has become a major challenge for this country's Communist leaders. In a sign of their growing concern about the situation, President Hu Jintao canceled plans to attend the Group of Eight summit in Italy and rushed home early Wednesday.
Relations between ethnic minorities and Han Chinese, who make up more than 90 percent of the Chinese population, have long been tense. But until the melee on Sunday, Urumqi had been one of the calmer parts of the West.
Thousands of Urumqi residents have responded to the violence by fleeing. Men, women and children carrying hastily packed shopping bags with their most valued possessions crowded the city's main bus and train stations on Wednesday. Tickets to many destinations were sold out for the next three days. Universities chartered buses to send students back to their home cities. And on many streets, entire families heading anywhere but here slugged through the heat lugging suitcases and blankets.
Despite a curfew from 9 p.m. to 8 a.m., small clashes between Uighurs and Han Chinese continued. At one point, witnesses said, about 300 Han Chinese rioters broke through a police line and attacked Uighur shops and homes.
Meanwhile, clusters of armed groups roamed the streets during the day. About 20 Han Chinese men with wooden bats and other weapons converged to beat a Uighur man, according to a reporter with Agence France-Presse who witnessed the incident. A separate group of Han Chinese, who had been reading newspaper coverage of the violence, chased Uighurs at an intersection, catching one of them and attacking him.
By evening, the area around Urumqi's bazaar, where the protest started Sunday, had been transformed into a military zone.
At a news conference, the city's mayor said the area was calm. "Under the correct leadership of the regional party committee and government . . . the situation is now under control," Jerla Isamudin said.
Trucks and light-armor vehicles filled with troops from hundreds of miles away were parked every few blocks. Walls of rifle-carrying soldiers closed off gaps between buildings and roads. Groups of soldiers stationed at mosques and other key targets for attacks shouted, "Protect! Protect!"
Chinese authorities have said they have cordoned off the area for the safety of Uighurs who live and work there. Uighurs, however, have complained that they are being targeted in mass arrests while Han Chinese who attacked Uighurs have been allowed to walk away.
Twenty-one-year-old Kadaer, a Uighur porter who gave only one name, said a crowd of Han Chinese had destroyed a restaurant attached to his building, located in a predominantly Han area. As the assailants made their way around the neighborhood, witnesses said, they also beat up several Uighurs who happened to be outside.
No longer sure of their safety, Kadaer said he and nine friends and relatives decided to pack clothes, food and other necessities and walk the 10 miles to a friend's home in the city's Uighur district.
"I must protect everyone, and this is the best way," he said.
At the bus station, two Uighur brothers were heading back to their home towns with their mother and her three sisters, abandoning their business in Urumqi. They were standing near a Uighur freshman from the Xinjiang Technology Institute who also said she could no longer stay because of the violence. "I don't know if I will be back in the fall," she said. "My family is very worried about me."
Xiao Keyeti, 21, a student at Xinjiang Medical University, was waiting at the train station to leave for the city of Akesu. He said he and other Uighur classmates were locked in their dormitories from Sunday to Tuesday, ostensibly for their protection but also to prevent them from joining protesters or causing additional trouble. After the attacks on Uighurs by Han Chinese, he said, the university's attitude changed dramatically.
"They urged us to go home as soon as possible," Xiao said. "How can we not be scared?"
Researcher Zhang Jie contributed to this report.
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