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Yarkand Massacre

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The Yarkand Massacre was an episode of violence that began on 28 July 2014 in Yarkant County, Kashgar Prefecture of the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, China, and lasted for several days, as Chinese police quelled the local unrest.

The official death toll listed 96 fatalities with 37 innocent people (including 35 Han and 2 Uyghurs) and 59 thugs or terrorists. The World Uyghur Congress and Apple Daily estimated based on interviews that 1,000 to 5,000 people died.

The incident

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On 2 August 2014, Chinese authorities reported that 37 innocent people (including 35 Han and 2 Uyghurs) and 59 thugs or terrorists (96 fatalities total) were killed in the 28 July violence in Yarkant County, Xinjiang, which the state media labelled an "organized, premeditated, well-planned, and vicious... terrorist incident, organized by a gang with ties to an overseas movement (Turkistan Islamic Party) which attacked local police stations and government offices".[1][2][3][4]

Independent media as well as the World Uyghur Congress based on interviews with several residents reported that the incident started with a protest march following an extrajudicial killing of a Uyghur family of five during house to house searches in Bashkent Township (Beshkent Town), triggered by reports of illegal prayer gatherings.[3][5][6][4] The protests were reported as peaceful at first, but escalated due to Chinese authorities' use of excessive force. Local residents said in an Agence France-Presse report that in the nearby Elishku Township (Elishqu Village) about 500 people, including some refugees from Bashkent Township, armed with knives, axes and other farming tools were marching through the streets on 28 July, when they were attacked by a group of military police armed with assault rifles. Mahmouti, a local resident, heard the police yell "back off" to the crowd, followed by continuous gunfire, and then intermittent gunfire for about an hour. Yusup, another local farmer, said that none of the people who had gone to the demonstration had returned, and he estimated that about 1,000 people were missing. Further fatalities occurred during house to house searches that followed over several days and were reported in four villages in the region (those villages included Erik, Hangdi, and Dongbag, or No. 14, 15 and 16 in the township), although the reports differ on whether most fatalities occurred on the first day or in subsequent days.[7][3]

Apple Daily reported that sources close to military intelligence said that the violence in Yarkant County, Xinjiang was a massacre in which between 3,000 and 5,000 people from four villages were slaughtered, with no survivors.[8] The exiled president of the World Uyghur Congress claimed that more than 2,000 people died.[3][9][7] The official casualty toll listed 96 deaths, with 59 rioters and 37 bystanders.[3]

Aftermath

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Investigation into the events has been made difficult due to the Chinese government's denial of it and censorship of independent and social media. Foreign journalists who attempted to investigate this incident were denied access, and later reported being unable to find unintimidated locals willing to talk to them. Internet and mobile access in the region was severely restricted for an unspecified length of time after the incident. Activists in China who provided information about it to international organizations have been arrested and sentenced for revealing "state secrets".[1][3][4][10][11]

In 2016, the World Uyghur Congress called the incident was "the deadliest episode [in the region] since the unrest in Urumqi in July 2009".[5]

In 2018, Apple Daily reported that several involved officials were detained on accusations of bribery.[8]

See also

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References

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  1. ^ a b "一名维吾尔人因提到新疆屠杀被逮捕" [Uyghur arrested for mentioning massacre in Xinjiang]. Radio France Internationale (in Chinese). 11 August 2014.
  2. ^ "新疆莎车暴恐案致37名民众遇害 59名暴徒被击毙" [37 people killed, 59 thugs shot dead] (in Chinese). Sina新聞中心. Tianshannet. 3 August 2014.
  3. ^ a b c d e f "法新社：2014年莎车暴力事件死伤人数或远超官方数据" [Agence France-Presse: Death toll in Yarkand violence in 2014 may far exceed official figures] (in Chinese). Deutsche Welle. 法新社. 29 April 2015.
  4. ^ a b c Demick, Barbara (8 August 2014). "Deadly clash in China: An ambush by Uighurs or a government massacre?". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 15 September 2022.
  5. ^ a b "East Turkestan: Anniversary of Yarkand Massacre Marked by Uyghur Community amid Chinese Silence". UNPO. 29 July 2016.
  6. ^ "PRESS RELEASE: WUC MOURNS THE VICTIMS OF THE YARKAND MASSACRE ON THE 6TH ANNIVERSARY". World Uyghur Congress. 28 July 2020.
  7. ^ a b "'At Least 2,000 Uyghurs Killed' in Yarkand Violence: Exile Leader". Radio Free Asia. Retrieved 15 September 2022.
  8. ^ a b "【37人被捕】新疆莎車縣縣委常委、公安局長涉賄" [[37 arrests] Member of the Standing Committee of the County Party Committee and Chief of Public Security of Shache County, Xinjiang, involved in bribery]. Apple Daily. 25 January 2018. Archived from the original on 21 June 2021.
  9. ^ Smith Finley, Joanne (3 July 2021). "Why Scholars and Activists Increasingly Fear a Uyghur Genocide in Xinjiang". Journal of Genocide Research. 23 (3): 348–370. doi:10.1080/14623528.2020.1848109. ISSN 1462-3528. S2CID 228884439. during what exiles have called the Yarkand Massacre of 2014, in which between 1000 and 3000 Uyghurs were allegedly killed by security forces
  10. ^ "China Now Says Almost 100 Were Killed in Xinjiang Violence". Time. Retrieved 15 September 2022.
  11. ^ "Rare Visit To Town At Centre Of Massacre Claims". Sky News. Retrieved 15 September 2022.

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