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Han Chinese Launch Revenge Attacks Against Uighur

by Rob Walker | July 7, 2009 at 06:03 am

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A day after riots and violence claimed the lives of almost 160 people in China's Xinjian district, a new wave of violence rampaged through Urumqi. Thousands of angry Han Chinese smashed up Uighur stores and sought vengeance for Han deaths over the weekend.

Riot police attempted to disperse the mob, but thousands were still on the streets armed with whatever they could find, including metal chains, shovels and axes. The attacks came as retribution for a number of deaths during the riots on Monday.

Rioters smashed Uighur restaurants, threw rocks at a mosque and threatened residents of Uighur areas, although moderates in the crowd attempted to restrain them.
"They attacked us. Now it's our turn to attack them," one protester told Reuters. Another said: "We're here to demand security for ourselves. They killed children in cold blood."

Since the riots have broken out, at least 60 overseas media groups have sent journalists to Urumqi. This will contrast remarkably with China's known efforts to shape any information coming out of the area.

"We disclosed information shortly after the incident. We welcome domestic and overseas journalists to come and see what happened," Hou Hanmin, deputy head of the publicity department of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Xinjiang regional committee, said Tuesday.

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Barbara McPherson

at 08:47 on July 7th, 2009

A curfew has been imposed now to try to tamp down the chaos. This is a traditionally Muslim area which has been agitating to regain their independence. The PRC has been moving ethnically Han people into the area, much like they have done in Tibet.

Roy C

at 13:04 on July 7th, 2009

Gee, I thought that Marxism was supposed to end xenophobia because it was the patriarchal capitalists who "needed" racism to help along their "imperialism" and their "colonialism", not to mention having to have a sub-class that everyone could feel superior to.

And, yet, there it is still rearing its ugly over-sized head of idiocy, racism, fear of the foreigner, imperialism, colonialism and the creation of a sub-class of outcasts, the Chinese Muslims, who then can be rounded up for having gone "terrorist" on the Chinese government, a government which is still autocratic as all previous Chinese governments have been with the exception of the actual freely-elected government of Sun-Yat Sen.