| Submit your comments on this article |
| China-Japan-Koreas |
| Fear of arrest, attacks haunts Uighur Muslims |
| 2009-07-12 |
| [Bangla Daily Star] Some Muslim Uighurs in this restive Chinese city remain in hiding nearly a week after deadly unrest as they are afraid of being attacked by Han Chinese or arrested, residents said yesterday. Thousands of people Friday tried to flee Urumqi in China's Xinjiang region after deadly ethnic unrest with many mosques ordered shut for the Muslim day of prayer. The exodus came as the authorities raised the toll from the violence that erupted on Sunday to more than 180 in the midst of growing international anger, especially in the Islamic world, at the plight of Xinjiang's Uighurs. Authorities said they had put on extra bus services out of the regional capital Urumqi, but demand outstripped seats and scalpers told AFP they were charging up to five times the normal price for tickets. "It is just too risky to stay here. We are scared of the violence," said Xu Qiugen, a 23-year-old construction worker from central China who had been living in Urumqi for five years and had bought a bus ticket out with his wife. Halisha, an eye doctor who works in the Uighur part of town, said he was too afraid to return to his home in a district of Urumqi city where mainly people from China's dominant Han ethnic group live. "I am still scared because, you know, there are a lot of Han where I live," the 30-year-old Uighur told AFP after six nights staying at his employer's clinic. "I am afraid of getting beaten because there have been a lot of Uighurs beaten up there. All of us just hope that everything can return to normal soon." One Uighur businessman, who did not want to be named, said several of his staff were sleeping at his workplace because they believed they could be unfairly caught up in the sweep by Chinese security forces. "Some of them don't want to go home because they are afraid they will be arrested," he told AFP. Thousands of Uighurs protested on Sunday amid frustration over what they say has been decades of repressive Chinese rule. The protest turned violent with attacks on Han Chinese and the government said 184 people died in Sunday's riots. Han Chinese then took to the streets early in the week wielding knives, poles, meat cleavers and other makeshift weapons and vowing vengeance against the Uighurs. One Uighur owner of a store that sells leather goods such as saddles said on Saturday staff were also hiding at his shop. "They are afraid of possibly getting beaten by Han. There is also still a lot of fear about being arrested," he told AFP. China said on Tuesday 1,434 people had been detained for their involvement in Sunday's unrest. But exiled Uighur leader Rebiya Kadeer estimated that as many as 5,000 people had been imprisoned in a massive security sweep that was rounding up innocent people. |
| Posted by:Fred |
| #2 The only place in the World where ROPers know humility. |
| Posted by: g(r)omgoru 2009-07-12 03:09 |
| #1 This is how it works: malcontents poke government in the eye, government retaliates against ordinary people, ordinary people get pissed, and malcontents rally more people to their cause. Che did it, Mao did it. You just have to really enrage the host population with sickening behavior so that they'll hit back. |
| Posted by: gromky 2009-07-12 02:18 |