China has been experiencing a fresh wave of discontent in the Xinjiang province. Two cities have seen riots in the last week and this violence has already claimed dozens of lives, most of them innocents. The people claim that the uprising is due to China’s policies targeting certain religions and ethnicities. The government is saying little, other than claiming that the riots were part of a terrorist attack.
The first violence occurred in the city of Turpan, as mobs attacked police stations and set police cars on fire. The police response was to start firing on the mob, resulting in approximately 35 deaths, only 11 of these being actual rioters. The latest violence was in a city far away from the other, the city of Hotan. Both cities are located within the Xinjiang province, an area in the western desert of China that has a primarily Uighur Muslim population. This area is no stranger when it comes to ethnic conflicts and back in 2009 they saw a wave of violence that ended with hundreds dead.
The people of Xinjiang are saying that the riots started as a response to the way they are being treated by the Chinese government, that they are victims of economic and religious persecution. The government story is, naturally, a bit different. They say that China does everything it can to maintain policies that protect all groups within their borders, regardless of religion or ethnicity and that the riots were nothing more than terrorist attacks. Of course, there’s a media black-out in the region so the state-run media can say pretty much whatever they want and no one would be the wiser.
Terrorist attack or otherwise, this is one problem that China will need to solve as quickly as possible. If the government does not come up with a solution, the violence will likely escalate in the future. With media black-outs and high body counts, this will do nothing but hurt the country’s reputation in international eyes. Perhaps China should listen to what the Uighur people have to say and try to come to a peaceful resolution.
2009 Xinjiang riots courtesy of Ccyber5
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