July 2009 Ürümqi riots

2009 Ürümqi riots Ürümqi class=notpageimage| Location of Ürümqi within China
Location	Ürümqi, Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region, China
Date	5 July 2009
Deaths	at least 197
Injured	1,721

2009 Ürümqi riots
Chinese name
Traditional Chinese	烏魯木齊7·5騷亂
Simplified Chinese	乌鲁木齐7·5骚乱
Literal meaning	Ürümqi 7·5 riots
Transcriptions Standard Mandarin Hanyu Pinyin Wūlǔmùqí 7·5 Sāoluàn
Alternate name
Traditional Chinese	烏魯木齊七·五暴力事件
Simplified Chinese	乌鲁木齐七·五暴力事件
Literal meaning	Ürümqi 7·5 Violent Incident
Transcriptions Standard Mandarin Hanyu Pinyin Wūlǔmùqí 7·5 Bàolìshìjiàn
Uyghur name
Uyghur	بەشىنچى ئىيۇل ۋەقەسى Beshinchi iyul weqesi "July 5th incident"‎

The July 2009 Ürümqi riots broke out on 5 July 2009 in Ürümqi, the capital city of the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region, in northwestern China. Rioting on the first day involved at least 1,000 Uyghurs in what began as a protest, but after confrontations with police escalated into attacks on Hans. Two days later, on 7 July, hundreds of Han people clashed with both police and Uyghurs. On 8 July, Chinese President Hu Jintao cut short his attendance of the 35th G8 summit and returned to China due to the situation in Xinjiang.

The violence was part of ongoing ethnic tensions between the Han—the largest ethnic group in China—and the Uyghurs—a Turkic, and predominantly Muslim, minority ethnic group in China. The specific riots were sparked by Uyghur dissatisfaction with the Chinese central government's handling of the deaths of two Uyghur workers, as part of an ethnic brawl ten days earlier in Guangdong province. Officials said at least 197 people are dead, with 1,721 others injured and many motor vehicles and buildings destroyed. Police attempted to quell the rioters with tear gas, water hoses, armoured vehicles, and roadblocks, while the government responded by strictly enforcing curfew in most urban areas. Authorities shut down Internet services and restricted cell phone services in Ürümqi for the night.

The cause of the riots is disputed. While the protests that preceded the riots were ostensibly a response to the death of two Uyghur workers in Guangdong, the Chinese central government claimed that the riots themselves had been planned from abroad by the World Uyghur Congress (WUC); Rebiya Kadeer, its president, denied the charges.

Background

Further information: [[:June 2009 Shaoguan incident, Uyghur people]]

History, demography, and social tensions

Xinjiang is a large region in central Asia that is governed as an autonomous region of the People's Republic of China. The region's ethnic composition is highly diverse, and is composed of numerous minority groups, 45% of its population being Uyghurs, and 40% Han, who are the majority ethnicity in China. The region's capital, Ürümqi, is a heavily industrialised city of over 2.3 million people, approximately 75% of whom are Han, 12.8% are Uyghur, and 10% are of other ethnic groups.

Tensions between Uyghurs and Han have existed in the area for several decades, especially in recent years. With the influx of Han since the mid-twentieth century, some Uyghurs believe that they are gradually being squeezed out, both economically and politically, and say they are denied the rights to worship and to travel. They also reject what they see as cultural imperialism from Beijing, which has for example ordered the demolition of parts of the Kashgar old town. Instances of violence and ethnic clashes around Xinjiang include the 1997 Ghulja Incident and the 2008 Kashgar attack, as well as the more widespread 2008 Uyghur unrest preceding the Olympic Games in Beijing. On the other hand, some Han people are dissatisfied by government policies which they believe favour Uyghurs, and believe laws are more lenient towards Uyghurs than towards Han people.

Immediate causes

The riots took place several days after the deaths of two Uyghurs at the Xuri Toy Factory in Shaoguan, Guangdong, where many migrant workers are employed. In late June, a Han female worker was reportedly sexually harassed by Uyghur co-workers in their residence quarters. A disgruntled former co-worker then disseminated rumors that two Han women had been raped. Overnight, on 25–26 June, tensions at the factory led to a full-blown ethnic brawl between Uyghurs and Hans; in the ensuing violence, two Uyghur co-workers were killed. Police investigations found no evidence that a rape had taken place. According to exiled Uyghur leaders, the death toll in the Guangdong incident was much higher than reported. Furthermore, while Xinhua reported that the person responsible for spreading the rumours had been arrested arrested, Uyghurs alleged that the authorities also failed to protect the Uyghur workers, or to arrest any of the Han people involved in the killings. Many Uyghurs were dissatisfied with the government's response to the killings, and a street protest was held in Ürümqi on 5 July to voice their disapproval.

However, Chinese government officials, however, argued that the riots were "a preempted, organised violent crime [...] instigated and directed from abroad, and carried out by outlaws in the country" Nur Bekri, chairman of the Xinjiang regional government, said in a televised speech on the morning of 6 July that "some overseas opposition forces" took advantage of the Shaoguan killings "to instigate Sunday's unrest and undermine the ethnic unity and social stability in the autonomous region, with an aim to split the country". The government blamed the riots on the exiled independence group World Uyghur Congress (WUC) and its leader Rebiya Kadeer, which it claims coordinated and "instigated" the riots over the internet. Chinese authorities also accused an unidentified WUC member of inciting ethnic tensions by posting a violent CNN video on QQ; although the video was depicting the April 2007 stoning of a girl in Mosul, Iraq, the poster falsely labelled it "a Uyghur girl beaten to death", alleged thatthe perpetrators were Hans, and urged Uyghurs to "fight back with violence" and "repay blood with blood".

In an opinion piece in the Wall Street Journal, Kadeer responded to the accusation by reiterating that the riots had been caused by "years of Chinese repression" rather than any of her actions. She did not state who she believed initiated the violence during the demonstrations; she wrote, "I unequivocally condemn the use of violence by Uighurs during the demonstration as much as I do China's use of excessive force against protestors... years of Chinese repression of Uighurs topped by a confirmation that Chinese officials have no interest in observing the rule of law when Uighurs are concerned is the cause of the current Uighur discontent."

Events

File:Ürümqi 2008.png

Ürümqi's central business district

Initial demonstrations

Demonstrations began on the evening of 5 July. A protest began in the Grand Bazaar, one of the city's prominent tourist destinations, denouncing the government's handling of the incident and demanding a full investigation of the killings; there were also reports of gatherings at the Ürümqi People's Square area. The South China Morning Post cites eyewitness Gulinisa Maimaiti, a 32-year-old employee working for a foreign company who took part in the original protest. She said at first there were over 300 protesters in People's Square in Ürümqi demanding an investigation into the deadly brawl of 25 June in Guangdong. The violence "seemed to have started when the crowd, which she said grew to 1,000 people, refused to disperse," according to the Post.

On 6 July, Nur Bekri, Chairman of the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region, presented official details and timelines before the riots broke out. Bekri said at about 5 p.m. China standard time on 5 July, more than 200 demonstrators gathered in People's Square in Ürümqi, and about 70 of their leaders were detained. Later, a crowd gathered in the mostly-Uyghur areas of Jiefangnan Road, Erdaoqiao, and Shanxi Alley; by 7:30 p.m., more than one thousand were gathered in front of a hospital in Shanxi Alley. At about 7:40 p.m., more than 300 people blocked the roads in the Renmin Road and Nanmen area. According to his account, police "controlled and dispersed" the crowd, and then rioters began to smash buses at 8:18. Giving a similar account in a press conference on 7 July, Jirla Isamuddin, the mayor of Ürümqi, remarked that the protesters had been organised online via such services as QQ Groups. Likewise, according to The Times, secret signs started appearing in taxi windows several days before the demonstration, suggesting that the protests had been organised beforehand.

The exiled WUC leader Rebiya Kadeer said the demonstration against discrimination and "demanding an explanation" for the events in Shaoguan began peacefully, a fact also confirmed by the Ürümqi municipal government. Kadeer alleged that there were agents provocateurs stirring up the crowds.

Escalation and spread

The New York Times cites an eyewitness who said the riots started sometime after 6 p.m. on 5 July, when protesters took to the street. Police confronted the protesters, and the ensuing clashes between protesters and police resulted in the burning and smashing of vehicles. At least 1,000 Uyghurs were involved in the rioting when it began, and the number of rioters may have risen to as many as 3,000. A witness told Agence France-Presse that the confrontation between protesters and police involved about 3,000 Uyghurs—some of whom were armed with batons and knives. Jane Macartney of The Times characterised the first day's rioting as consisting mainly of "Han stabbed by marauding gangs of U[y]ghurs."

About 1,000 police officers were dispatched with tasers and weapons, and they fired gunshots into the air to try to quell the unrest. The WUC claimed the protests turned violent due to police brutality, or because police opened fire indiscriminately into the crowd. Radio Free Asia reported a purported eyewitness saying "When the demonstrators reached the People's Square, armed police suppressed them using electroshock weapons and so on... After that, other protests erupted in Uyghur areas of town."

During a press conference, Mayor Jirla Isamuddin said that at about 8:15 p.m., some protesters started to "fight and loot", overturning guardrails and smashing three buses before being dispersed. At 8:30 p.m., violence escalated around Jiefangnan Road and Longquan Street area, with rioters torching police patrol cars and "attacking passers-by". Soon, between 700 to 800 people went from the People's Square to Daximen and Xiaoximen area, with "fighting, smashing, looting, torching and killing" along the way. At 9:30 p.m., the government received reports that three people were killed and 26 were injured, six of whom were police officers. Police reinforcements were dispatched to hotspots – People's Square, Nanmen, Tuanjie Road, Saimachang and Xinhuanan Road. Police took control of the main roadways and commercial districts in the city at around 10 p.m., but riots continued in side streets and alleyways, with Hans attacked and cars overturned or torched, according to state media. Police then formed small teams and "swept" the entire city for the next two days. Jirla Isamuddin stated Ürümqi had returned to normal as of 7 July. A strict curfew was in force; authorities adopted a "comprehensive traffic control" from 9:00 p.m. Tuesday to 8:00 a.m. Wednesday "to avoid further chaos".

The official news agency, Xinhua, reported that police believed agitators were trying to organise more unrest in other cities in Xinjiang such as Aksu and the Yili Prefecture. As the protests spread to Kashgar, they also became violent. Xinhua also reported that about 200 people were "trying to gather" at the Id Kah Mosque in the centre of Kashgar, but were dispersed by police early on Monday evening with no deaths or injuries. The South China Morning Post reported that many shops were closed, and the area around the mosque was sealed off by a PLA platoon after the clash. Local Uyghurs blamed the security forces for using excessive force – they "attacked the protesters and arrested 50 people". Another clash near the mosque on Tuesday (7 July) was reported, and an estimated 50 people were arrested. Up to 12,000 students at the Kashgar Teaching Institute were confined to campus since Sunday's riots, according to the Post. Many of its students had apparently travelled to Ürümqi to participate in the initially peaceful demonstrations. Some 2,000 troops patrol Kashgar.

Casualties and damage

During the first hours of the rioting, state media only reported that three people had been killed. The number rose sharply, though, after the first night's rioting; at midday on Monday, 6 July (China standard time), Xinhua announced that 129 people had been killed. In the following days the death toll reported by various government sources (including Xinhua, the China News Agency, and party officials) gradually grew, with the last official update placing the tally at 197 dead, 1,721 injured on 18 July. The World Uyghur Congress has claimed that the death toll was much higher, at around 600. Li Chunyang, spokesman for the Xinjiang government said that the death toll was dynamic because some victims being treated at the hospitals were in critical situation.

Xinhua did not immediately disclose the ethnic breakdown of the dead, but according to journalists from the Times and the Daily Telegraph most of the victims appeared to have been Han people. For instance, on 10 July Xinhua stated that 137 of the dead (out of the total of 184 that was being reported at that time) were Han, 46 Uyghur, and one Hui. There were casualties among the rioters as well; for example, according to official accounts, a group of twelve rioters attacking civilians were shot by police. In the months following the riots, the government maintained that the majority of casualties were Han and hospital records said that two-thirds of the injured were Han, although the World Uyghur Congress claims that many Uyghurs were killed as well.

As for property damages, Xinhua reported that 627 vehicles and 633 constructions were also damaged. The Ürümqi municipal government initially announced that it would pay 200,000 ¥ as compensation, plus 10,000 yuan as "funeral expense" for every "innocent death" caused by the riot. The compensation was later doubled to 420,000 yuan per death. Mayor Jirla Isamuddin estimated that the compensations will cost at least 100 million yuan in total.

After 5 July

The city remained tense while journalists invited into the city witnessed confrontational scenes between Chinese troops and Uyghurs demanding the release of family members they said had been arbitrarily arrested. Uyghur women told The Telegraph reporter that police entered Uyghur districts in the night of 6 July, bursting through doors and pulling men and boys from their beds and rounded up 100 suspects. By 7 July, officials reported that 1,434 suspected rioters had been arrested; Over 300 more people were reported arrested in early August; according to the BBC, the total number of arrests in connection with the riots was over 1500. A group of 200 to 300 Uyghur women assembled on 7 July to protest what they said was "indiscriminate" detention of Uyghur men; the protest led to a tense but nonviolent confrontation with police forces.

On 7 July, there were large-scale armed demonstrations by ethnic Han in Ürümqi. Conflicting estimates of the Han demonstrators' numbers were reported by the western media and varied from as low as 300 people to as high as 10,000 people. The Times reported that smaller fights were frequently breaking out between Uyghurs and Hans, and that groups of Han citizens had organised to take revenge on "Uyghur mobs". Police used tear gas and roadblocks in an attempt to disperse the demonstration, and urged Han citizens over loudspeakers to "calm down" and "let the police do their job". Li Zhi, party chief of Ürümqi, stood on the roof of a police car with a megaphone appealing to the crowd to go home.

Mass protests had been quelled by 8 July, although sporadic violence was reported. Cars transporting reporters from the People's Daily were attacked by unidentified mobs armed with knives, axes and iron sticks, although no one was seriously injured. On the same day, Radio Free Asia reported that Ilham Tohti, an ethnic Uyghur economist at Minzu University of China, had been detained by authorities over his criticisms of the Xinjiang government and because the government claimed that his website Uyghur Online helped instigate the rioting by spreading rumors.

On 10 July, city authorities closed Ürümqi mosques "for public safety", saying it was too dangerous to have large gatherings that that holding Jumu'ah, traditional Friday prayers, could reignite tensions. Large crowds of Uyghurs gathered for prayer anyway, however, and police decided to let two mosques open to avoid having an "incident". After prayers at the White Mosque, several hundred people demonstrated over people detained after the riot, but were dispersed by riot police, with five or six people arrested.

In the days after the riots, "thousands" of people tried to leave the city, and the price for bus tickets rose as much as fivefold.

Reactions and response

Domestic reaction

Communications

China's two large mobile service providers have not been uniform in their response to the riots. China Mobile suspended its service in the region "to help keep the peace and prevent the incident from spreading further," while China Unicom said there was no interruption of its service in Xinjiang. Outbound international calls throughout Xinjiang were blocked, and Internet connections in the region had been locked down. Many unauthorised postings on local sites and Google were "harmonised" by government censors; images and video footage of the demonstrations and rioting, however, were soon found posted on Twitter, YouTube, and Flickr. The Xinjiang Regional Government's official website, as well as that of the Ürümqi Municipal government, had been inaccessible worldwide since the beginning of the protests.

Government

Chinese television broadcast graphic footage of cars being smashed and people being beaten. Xinjiang Autonomous Region Chairman Nur Bekri delivered a lengthy address on the situation, and its origins in Guangdong from several weeks earlier and claimed that the government of both Guangdong and Xinjiang had dealt with the deaths of the workers properly and with respect. Bekri, an ethnic Uyghur, reiterated the party line, and further condemned the riots as "premeditated and planned". Eligen Imibakhi, chairman of the Standing Committee of the Xinjiang Regional People's Congress, blamed the July 5 riots on "extremism, separatism and terrorism".

The Chinese media covered the rioting extensively, relying only on footage and reports from Xinhua and local branches of state television; top leaders chose to leave the issue in the hands of local officials, Hours after troops stopped the rioting, the state invited foreign journalists on an official fact-finding trip to Ürümqi; journalists from more than 100 media organisations were corralled into the same downtown Hoi Tak Hotel, sharing 30 internet connections. Journalists were given unprecedented access to troublespots and hospitals, The Financial Times contrasted this improvement to the "public-relations disaster" of the Tibetan unrest in 2008. President Hu Jintao curtailed his attendance of the G8 summit in Italy, convened an emergency meeting of the Politburo, and dispatched Standing Committee member Zhou Yongkang as his emissary to “guid[e] stability-preservation work in Xinjiang". South China Morning Post reported a government source saying Beijing would re-evaluate the impact on arrangements for the country's forthcoming 60th anniversary celebrations in October. A senior Chinese official – the Communist Party boss in Guangdong, Wang Yang, noted that the government policies towards ethnic minorities "definitely need adjustments", otherwise "there will be some problems."

In an effort to soothe tensions immediately after the riots, state media began a mass publicity campaign throughout Xinjiang extolling ethnic harmony. Local television programs united Uyghur and Han singers in a chorus of "We are all part of the same family"; Uygurs who "acted heroically" during the riots were profiled; loud-hailer trucks blasted slogans in the streets. A common slogan warned against the "three forces" of terrorism, separatism and extremism.

Internet response

The response to the riots on the Chinese blogosphere was markedly more varied than the official response. Despite many blocks and censorship, Internet watchers monitored continued attempts by netizens to divulge their own thoughts on the causes of the incident or vent their anger at the incident. While some bloggers were supportive of the government, others were more reflective of the event's cause. Many messages were ethnically charged, and posts were swiftly deleted. Common themes were calls for punishment for those responsible; a few voices echoing nationalist sentiment evoked the name of General Wang Zhen.

International reactions

International organisations

• United Nations: The United Nations human rights chief Navi Piley said she was "alarmed" over the high death toll, noting this was an "extraordinarily high number of people to be killed and injured in less than a day of rioting." She also said China must treat detainees humanely in a way that adheres to international norms. The Secretary General Ban Ki-moon urged all sides to exercise restraint, and called on China to take measures to protect the civilian population as well as respect the freedoms of citizens, including freedom of speech, assembly and information.
• Shanghai Cooperation Organisation: A statement from the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) said the organisation sympathises with the family members of those innocent people killed in the riot. The SCO's member states regard that the Xinjiang region is an inalienable part of the People's Republic of China and the situation in Xinjiang is purely China's internal affairs, the statement said. The SCO believes that measures the Chinese government is taking in accordance with the country's laws can restore peace and order in the region.
• Organisation of the Islamic Conference: The OIC decried the "disproportionate use of force", calling on Beijing to "bring those responsible to justice swiftly" and urging China to find a solution to the unrest by examining why it had erupted. The head of the OIC Ekmeleddin İhsanoğlu is to meet the Turkish Foreign Minister, Ahmet Davutoğlu, to discuss the situation.

• European Union: The European Union expressed concern over the clashes and urged the Chinese government to show restraint in dealing with the protests.

Countries

• Afghanistan: The Afghan government "backs the territorial integrity and sovereignty of China" a Foreign Ministry statement said. It also said Afghanistan is closely monitoring the situation and believes China can "deal with the issue in accordance with its national interests."
• Australia: Prime Minister Kevin Rudd on hearing "disturbing reports" of violence in Xinjiang urged restraint to bring about a "peaceful settlement to this difficulty."
• Belarus: The Foreign Ministry noted with regret the loss of life and damage in the region, and hope that measures taken by the Chinese authorities will allow the situation to normalise.
• Cambodia: The Cambodian government believes China is taking "appropriate" measures and regards the situation as an "internal affair".
• Canada: Canadian Foreign Affairs Minister Lawrence Cannon said, "Dialogue and goodwill are required to help resolve grievances and prevent further deterioration of the situation."
• France: Foreign Ministry spokesman Eric Chevallier expressed concern at the unfolding events.
• Germany: Chancellor Angela Merkel called for a peaceful solution to the incident. She added that she respects the "One-China policy" but that this also means respect for the rights of minorities.
• Iran: Foreign Minister Manuchehr Motaki shared the concerns of Turkey and the OIC, and appealed to the Chinese government to respect the rights of the Muslim population in Xinjiang.
• Italy: President Giorgio Napolitano brought up human rights at a press conference with Hu Jintao. He said both sides agreed that "economic and social progress that is being achieved in China places new demands in terms of human rights."
• Japan: Vice Foreign Minister Mitoji Yabunaka said that "the Japanese government is paying close attention to it, and is also concerned."
• Kazakhstan: Kazakh officials suspended visas for its citizens to Xinjiang, in agreement with Chinese authorities. They also said they are assisting 1,000 Kazakh nationals who are fleeing the violence. On 19 July, over 5,000 Uyghurs in Almaty held a demonstration to protest Chinese police use of deadly force against the rioters.
• Kyrgyzstan: The country says it is prepared to confront "an influx of refugees" and has tightened border controls.
• Micronesia: Vice President Alik Alik condemned the riot in Ürümqi, expressed condolences for "the loss of innocent lives", and referred to the rioting as a "terrorist act".
• Netherlands: The Chinese embassy was attacked by Uyghur activists who smashed windows with bricks. The Chinese flag was also burnt and 39 people remained detained out of 142 arrested. China later closed the embassy for the day.
• Norway: About 100 Uyghurs protested outside the Chinese embassy in Oslo—11 of whom were detained; one attempted to scale the embassy fence. They were all released without charge. The Norwegian government relayed its concern about the events to Chinese authorities, calling on all parties to refrain from violence and stressing the importance of dialogue.
• Pakistan: Foreign Office Spokesman Abdul Basit said there were some "elements" out to harm Sino-Pakistan ties, and will ensure the events will not damage or destabilise the interests of the two countries.
• Republic of China (Taiwan): The government condemned all those who instigated the violence as deserving "the strongest condemnation". Premier Liu Chiao-shiuan also urged all parties to exercise self-restraint and hopes that the Chinese authorities will demonstrate the "greatest possible leniency and tolerance in dealing with the aftermath" and respect the rights of ethnic minorities.
• Russia: Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said the riot was an internal affair of China. "Using separatist slogans and provoking ethnic intolerance, the initiators of the disorder attacked citizens and beat them, turned over cars and torched them and looted shops and other buildings", he added.
• Serbia: The Foreign Ministry supported the efforts of Chinese authorities to restore order in Xinjiang, and stated that it opposes separatism and supports the "resolution of all disputes by peaceful means."
• Singapore: The Ministry of Foreign Affairs regretted the outbreak of violence and the loss of lives. It urged restraint and hoped the situation could be resolved through dialogue.
• Sri Lanka: The country, while expressing concern at the events, considered the incident to be an internal affair of China and is confident that efforts by the Chinese authorities will restore normalcy.
• Switzerland: The Swiss Foreign Ministry called on both sides to exercise restraint, adding it was "concerned" about events. It sent condolences to the families of victims and urged China to respect freedom of expression and the press.
• Turkey: The riot has created rifts in the diplomatic relationship between China and Turkey. Officially, the Foreign Ministry released a statement expressing "deep sadness" at the recent events, and urged the Chinese authorities to find the perpetrators and bring them to justice. Turkey's Prime Minister Erdogan said the incident was "like genocide", sparking a significant outcry from Chinese media. Turkey's Trade and Industry Minister Nihat Ergun has also called for a boycott on Chinese goods.
• United Kingdom: Prime Minister Gordon Brown urged restraint on both sides.
• United States: White House spokesman Robert Gibbs said the United States regrets the loss of life in Xinjiang, was deeply concerned and called on all sides to exercise restraint. U.S. State Department spokesman Ian Kelly, said "it's important that the Chinese authorities act to restore order and prevent further violence." The United States Commission on International Religious Freedom expressed "grave concern" over repression in China, and called for an independent investigation on the riots and targeted sanctions against China.
• Vietnam: Foreign Ministry spokesman Le Dung said Vietnam was closely following the situation, and believed the Chinese government was taking appropriate measures to restore public order and stability.

Other organisations

• Amnesty International: The organisation called for an "impartial and independent" inquiry into the incident, adding that those detained for "peacefully expressing their views and exercising their freedom of expression, association and assembly" must be released and ensure others receive a fair trial.
• Human Rights Watch: HRW urged China to exercise restraint and to allow an independent inquiry into the events, which include addressing Uyghur concerns about policies in the region. It also added that China should respect international norms when responding to the protests and only use force proportionately.
• Central Tibetan Administration: The Dalai Lama expressed concern over "the tragic loss of lives" and urged the Chinese authorities to exercise restraint.
• Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb: According to London-based risk analysis firm Stirling Assynt, an Algerian organisation called al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM) has issued the call for vengeance against Beijing for mistreatment of its Muslim minority.

Media coverage

Chen Shirong, China editor on the BBC World Service, remarked at the improvement in media management by Xinhua: "To be more credible, it released video footage a few hours after the event, not two weeks." Peter Foster of the Daily Telegraph observed that "long-standing China commentators have been astonished at the speed at which Beijing has moved to seize the news agenda on this event," and attributed it to his belief that "China doesn't have a great deal to hide". The New York Times said "Chinese experts clearly have studied the so-called colour revolutions — in Georgia and Ukraine, and last month's protests in Iran — for the ways that the Internet and mobile communication devices helped protesters organise and reach the outside world, and for ways that governments sought to counter them." A University of California, Berkeley academic said that the Chinese authorities had learned from past mistakes, and were becoming more sophisticated.

But Willy Lam, fellow of the Jamestown Foundation, was skeptical: "They are just testing the reaction -- if the end results turns out to be very negative, they will put the brakes on again, [like the reporting for Sichuan]". There were instances of foreign journalists being taken into custody by the police, to be released shortly thereafter. On 10 July, officials ordered foreign media out of Kashgar, "for their own safety."

The People's Daily carried an essay rebuking certain western media outlets for their "double standards, biased coverage and comments". It said that China failed to receive fair 'repayment' from certain foreign political figures or media outlets for its openness and transparent attitude. The author said "a considerable number of media outlets still intentionally or inadvertently minimised the violent actions of the rioters, and attempted to focus on so-called racial conflict." However, D'Arcy Doran from Agence France-Presse welcomed the increased openness for foreign media, but remarked that Chinese media closely followed the government line on reporting for events, focussing mainly on injured Hans and ignoring the "Uyghur story" or reasons behind the incident.

Many early reports of the riots, starting with one from Reuters, used a picture purporting to show the riots the previous day. The photo, showing large number of People's Armed Police squares, was one taken of the 2009 Shishou riot and originally published on 26 June by Southern Metropolis Weekly. The same picture was mistakenly used by other agencies; it was on the website of The Daily Telegraph, but was removed a day later. In an interview with Al Jazeera on 7 July, WUC leader Rebiya Kadeer used the same Shishou photograph to defend the Uyghurs in Ürümqi. A World Uyghur Congress representative later apologised, explaining that the photo was chosen out of hundreds for its image quality.

On 3 August, Xinhua reported that two of Rebiya Kadeer's children had written letters blaming her for orchestrating the riots. Germany-based spokesman for the WUC rejected the letters as fakes. A Human Rights Watch researcher remarked their style was "suspiciously close" to the way the Chinese authorities had described rioting in Xinjiang and the aftermath. He added that: "...it's highly irregular for [her children] to be placed on the platform of a government mouthpiece ... for wide dispersion."

Long-term aftermath

Arrests and trials

In early August, the Ürümqi government announced that 83 individuals had been "officially" arrested in connection with the riots. In late August the state-run China Daily claimed that over 200 people were being charged (with about 170 Uyghur lawyers and 20 Han lawyers representing them) and that trials would begin by the end of August; both a Xinjiang provincial government official and a local Chinese Communist Party official, however, denied this, saying that no trial dates had ever been set and that the official number of individuals being charged remained at 83. The BBC noted that it was rare for PRC officials to deny or refute information published in the state-run media. Xinjiang authorities later announced that arrest warrants had been issued to 196 suspects, of which 51 had already been prosecuted. Police also requested that the procuratorate approved the arrest of a further 239 people. An additional 825 people were being detained, the China Daily said.

Rebiya Kadeer claimed that the "trials [would] neither be open, nor fair."

Legislative changes

In late August, the central government passed a law outlining standards for deployment of the People's Armed Police during "rebellion, riots, large-scale serious criminal violence, terror attacks and other social safety incidents." In early September, after another large-scale protest, the government issued an announcement banning all "unlicensed marches, demonstrations and mass protests".

Later riots

Starting in mid-August, there was a string of attacks in which as many as 476 individuals were stabbed with hypodermic needles. Police and government officials claimed that the attacks were targeting Han civilians, and claimed that had been perpetrated by Uyghur separatists. In response to both concern over the attacks and dissatisfaction over the government's slowness in prosecuting people involved with the July riots, "tens of thousands" of Hans protested in the streets. On 4 September an official said that five people have died during the protests and a further 14 were injured.

Other

It took until at least early August for full public transportation to be restored in the city. 267 buses were said to have been damaged during the rioting, but according to Xinhua most of the bus routes went back into operation on 12 August. The government paid bus companies a total of ¥5.25 million in compensation.

When Ürümqi public schools opened in September for the fall semester, they did so with armed police guarding them.

See also

• 2008 Tibetan unrest
• 2008 Uyghur unrest
• Ghulja Incident

External links

• Xinhua News Agency Coverage
• CCTV special coverage
• BBC Photo Gallery
• drop.io for Urumqi riots
• Rebiya Kadeer interviewed by Al-Jazeera - YouTube
• Report From Urumqi: Thousands of Chinese Troops Enter City Torn by Ethnic Clashes - video by Democracy Now!
• Washington is Playing a Deeper Game with China by F. William Engdahl, Global Research, 11 July 2009
• Urumqi: No Fresh Violence, But Tension Persists, Raman's Strategic Analysis, 12 July 2009