DTN News: China TODAY September 5, 2009 ~ Five dead Amid Urumqi Protests / China Blames Muslim Separatists For Needle Attacks

DTN News: China TODAY September 5, 2009 ~ Five dead Amid Urumqi Protests / China Blames Muslim Separatists For Needle Attacks

*Source: DTN News / Int'l Media

(NSI News Source Info) URUMQI, China - September 5, 2009: Five people died in unrest this week in the far-west Chinese city of Urumqi, its deputy mayor said, after a third day of protests which were broken up by police using tear gas. Chinese security forces chase Han Chinese demonstrators at a road block during a protest at the center of Urumqi in China's Xinjiang Autonomous Region September 4, 2009. Tension flared in China's western city of Urumqi on Friday, when hundreds of Han Chinese tried to push past security barriers into an ethnic Uighur neighbourhood and shouted demands for better security. The confrontation came a day after many thousands of Han Chinese massed in the streets in Urumqi, regional capital of Xinjiang, protesting that they were the targets of mysterious attacks with syringes and that authorities had been too slow to punish Uighurs behind deadly riots on July 5. Han Chinese protesters massed in the capital of the Xinjiang region, angry at authorities they blamed for failing to control a spate of syringe attacks and being slow to bring to trial ethnic Uighurs charged with deadly rioting on July 5. The demonstrations are a rare direct challenge to the government by middle class urbanites, and could inflame ethnic resentments as Beijing prepares to showcase the nation's achievements on October 1, the 60th anniversary of Communist rule. Troops blocked protesters' access to neighbourhoods that are home to Uighurs, a Turkic-speaking Muslim people native to the energy-rich region. Faced with deteriorating support among the majority Han Chinese, Beijing dispatched public security minister Meng Jianzhu to Urumqi, where he urged officials to "restore social order as soon as possible". The unrest came two months after deadly ethnic riots swept the city, killing at least 197 people, most of them Han Chinese. The July 5 riots began after police stopped Uighurs demonstrating against the deaths of Uighur factory workers attacked by Han co-workers in southern China in late June. Among the five who died on Thursday, two were "innocent civilians", while police were still investigating the other deaths, Deputy Mayor Zhang Hong told a news conference. He did not specify the ethnic backgrounds of the dead nor how they died. On Thursday, thousands of Han Chinese demanded the resignation of the region's powerful Communist Party secretary, Wang Lequan, who has held the post for 14 years. Friday's evening television news showed Mr Wang grimly taking notes at a meeting held by public security minister Mr Meng. Mr Meng repeated government accusations that separatists, trying to stir up instability, were behind the syringe attacks. Chinese security forces block a road during a protest by Han Chinese at the centre of Urumqi in China's Xinjiang Autonomous Region September 4, 2009. Tension flared in China's western city of Urumqi on Friday, when hundreds of Han Chinese tried to push past security barriers into an ethnic Uighur neighbourhood and shouted demands for better security. The confrontation came a day after many thousands of Han Chinese massed in the streets in Urumqi, regional capital of Xinjiang, protesting that they were the targets of mysterious attacks with syringes and that authorities had been too slow to punish Uighurs behind deadly riots on July 5. "Maintaining stability is the central task of overriding importance in Xinjiang at the present time," he said. Twenty-one Uighurs had been detained for the syringe attacks, Mr Zhang said, adding that four have already been indicted. Most of the victims were Han Chinese, he added, but other ethnicities were also attacked.

DTN News: China TODAY September 4, 2009 ~ Fresh Protests In Restive Xinjiang Capital

DTN News: China TODAY September 4, 2009 ~ Fresh Protests In Restive Xinjiang Capital *Source: DTN News / AFP (NSI News Source Info) URUMQI, China - September 4, 2009: The Chinese city of Urumqi was under lockdown after tens of thousands of protesters took to the streets Thursday over mysterious syringe attacks in the capital of restive Xinjiang region. Chinese paramilitary police watch as Chinese gather on the streets of Urumqi in western China's Xinjiang province, Thursday, Sept. 3, 2009. Chinese residents protested deteriorating public safety Thursday after reported syringe attacks in the city where ethnic rioting in July killed nearly 200 people. The streets were deserted apart from several hundred police officers, an AFP reporter said. Many were armed with riot shields and truncheons and some with guns in a forceful response aimed at staving off a second wave of bloodshed following that seen here in July, when nearly 200 people were killed. The police presence was heaviest in the southern half of the city, home to many of the city's Muslim ethnic Uighurs. About two hundred police with several dozen military trucks were camped out in the People's Square. All major roads and highways into Urumqi were closed to traffic and police had ordered residents to stay indoors. The state Xinhua news agency said "tens of thousands of people" had earlier gathered at several locations to protest a series of syringe attacks against members of various ethnic groups. Shops and markets were shuttered. Some Uighurs, who clashed with Han Chinese in July in the worst ethnic unrest to hit the country in decades, were among the protesters who crippled traffic in the city, Xinhua said. "There are about 10-20,000 people and many police in the street at every intersection," a Han woman who runs a local medical clinic told AFP, asking not to be named. "There are more than 100 police stationed every 400-500 metres," she said. "I heard there was a protest yesterday afternoon and I saw it myself today. They shouted, 'Protect our homeland.' Most of them are Han." "The reason for the protest was because people were stabbed by the needles," the woman at the clinic added. The Xinjiang-based Bingtuan Television said authorities had been receiving reports since August 20 of people being attacked with needles, putting the number of assaults at 476. Xinhua said 21 people, whose ethnicity was not disclosed, had been detained after attacking members of nine ethnic groups, including Han Chinese and Uighurs. Four have been arrested for criminal prosecution. No one had been infected or poisoned in the assaults, the agency said, but it remained unclear why attackers used syringes, or what these contained. Regional Communist Party chief Wang Lequan and Urumqi party boss Li Zhi both "called on the crowds, on two separate occasions, to stay calm and show restraint," Xinhua reported. Some witnesses said protesters had shouted slogans against Wang, demanding that he do something to put an end to the needle stabbings. Xinhua said the protests began late Thursday morning when more than 1,000 people gathered in a residential district of Urumqi, and a crowd congregated in another area when a man was caught after allegedly stabbing a child. The demonstration spread to major streets in the city, with some needle-stabbing attacks occurring during the protests. One attacker was caught and police stopped the crowd from beating the person, Xinhua reported. Chinese paramilitary police officers stand guard near the People's Square after they closed down the roads heading to the square in Urumqi, Xinjiang province, China, Friday, Sept. 4, 2009. More than 10,000 people, mostly from the Han Chinese majority, took to the streets Thursday, demanding increased security and punishment for those behind the July riots. Demonstrators said police beat some protesters, but there were no major clashes. "The Han have staged a march so the police imposed controls and ordered us to stay indoors," Halisha, a Uighur eye doctor, said by telephone. A receptionist at an Urumqi hotel said Internet access had been limited throughout the city. Local and regional government officials were not immediately available for comment. Foreign ministry spokeswoman Jiang Yu said she had no knowledge of the incident but told reporters at a regular news briefing that China was "competent to safeguard social stability and national unity". Uighurs say the July 5 riots occurred after Urumqi police tried to forcibly break up a peaceful protest over a brawl involving factory workers in distant southern China that state media said left two Uighurs dead. China however has accused exiled Uighur leader Rebiya Kadeer, who lives in the United States, of orchestrating the unrest. During a visit to mainly Muslim Xinjiang late last month, President Hu Jintao described those behind the unrest as "separatists" who were "doomed to fail." Kadeer has denied any involvement in the violence. Dilxat Raxit, the Munich-based spokesman of Kadeer's World Uighur Congress, said witnesses had told him that about 10 Uighurs had been beaten and taken to hospital in the latest unrest. A female office worker in downtown Urumqi said the situation in the city had been "very chaotic and especially serious" in the past two days.

DTN News: China's President Hu Jintao Vows Xinjiang 'Separatists' Will Fail: Report

DTN News: China's President Hu Jintao Vows Xinjiang 'Separatists' Will Fail: Report *Source: DTN News / Int'l Media (NSI News Source Info) BEIJING, China - August 26, 2009: President Hu Jintao vowed on Tuesday that "separatist forces" which China blames for recent deadly unrest in its heavily Muslim Xinjiang region would fail, state media said. A Chinese police officer patrols in Urumqi, in northwest China's Xinjiang province on Wednesday, Aug. 26, 2009. China's President Hu Jintao has pledged new reforms to help accelerate economic growth in Xinjiang after the remote region was rocked by deadly ethnic rioting, saying that stability there matters to the whole country. "The separatist forces do not have popular support and are doomed to fail," Hu was quoted saying by state-run China Central Television (CCTV). CCTV said Hu's comments were made to Xinjiang officials in the regional capital Urumqi, the scene of bloody riots in July that left at least 197 people dead. They came amid an inspection tour of the region by Hu that also took him to four other smaller cities, the report said. The July 5 riots saw members of the mainly Muslim Uyghur minority clash with Han Chinese in the worst ethnic unrest to hit the country in decades. Uyghurs say the riots occurred after Urumqi police tried to forcibly break up a peaceful protest over a factory worker brawl in distant southern China between Uighurs and Han and which state media said left two Uyghurs dead. However, China blames the Urumqi unrest on what it calls separatist forces lead by exiled Uyghur activist Rebiya Kadeer, who is based in the United States. She has denied any involvement. CCTV broadcast images showing Hu in Xinjiang inspecting businesses, thanking security personnel for helping put down the unrest, and consoling victims. "(The separatist forces) destructive activities cannot shake the overall stability of Xinjiang's reform and development," Hu was quoted as saying. Xinjiang's government earlier Tuesday denied a report in the state media that more than 200 people would be put on trial this week over the July violence, which prompted a massive security crackdown across the region. On Monday, the state-run China Daily reported on its front page that the People's Intermediate Court in the regional capital Urumqi was preparing for the trials amid tight security. "At present, there is no scheduled date for the trial," Li Hua, an official at the Xinjiang government media office, told AFP on Tuesday. "I don't know how China Daily got that information, but it's not true. We will announce it to the media when there is a trial."

DTN News: China TODAY August 25, 2009 ~ 200 To Face Trial In China For Xinjiang Unrest

DTN News: China TODAY August 25, 2009 ~ 200 To Face Trial In China For Xinjiang Unrest

*Source: DTN News / Int'l Media

(NSI News Source Info) BEIJING, China - August 25, 2009: China will this week put more than 200 people on trial over last month's deadly ethnic unrest in Xinjiang, with security tight due to fears of fresh violence, state media said Monday. An ethnic minority Chinese resident walks past a checkpoint with heavily armed paramilitary police along a street of Urumqi, northwestern China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, Monday, Aug. 24, 2009. More than 200 people are expected to go on trial this week for their involvement in sectarian riots last month that killed nearly 200 people in China's western region of Xinjiang. The trials will take place in the Intermediate People's Court in Urumqi, the capital of the mainly Muslim northwest region where violence in early July left at least 197 people dead, the China Daily reported, citing unnamed officials. The more than 200 defendants will face charges ranging from disrupting traffic to murder, the paper said, meaning that some of them could be given the death penalty. Authorities had previously announced only 83 formal arrests. Armed police have started around-the-clock patrols in the area near the courthouse, in a massive security build-up ahead of the hearings, the paper said. Local residents have voiced concerns that the trials will rekindle the same raw emotions among the city's different ethnic groups that fanned the deadly street clashes less than two months ago. "Many bereaved Han families will come to wait for the verdicts, and the authorities fear they may clash with any Uighur in their presence," Guo Mei, a saleswoman who works near the court, told the China Daily. The violence that broke out in Urumqi on July 5 pitted Han Chinese against Uighurs, a Turkic-speaking and predominantly Muslim people, in the worst ethnic unrest to hit the country in decades. The paper reported intense public interest in the trials, which will all be public, except from those dealing with "splitting the state". "I'd be very angry if those rioters receive light sentences or escape justice," said an unnamed worker. "They should be given harsh penalties for causing the loss of so many innocent lives." One Han shopkeeper told the China Daily that Han Chinese who "overreacted" when seeking out Uighurs in retaliatory mob violence following the initial riots "should be granted leniency by the judge". Both court officials and prosecutors declined to comment when contacted by AFP. A city government official surnamed Ma said he had "no information so far" about the trials. With doubts remaining over who was to blame for the violence, the future of ethnic relations in volatile Xinjiang hinges to a large extent on how the Chinese government handles the aftermath, observers said. "There is profound distrust on both sides in terms of Han Chinese and the Uighurs," Phelim Kine, an Asia researcher with New York-based Human Rights Watch, told AFP. "The Chinese government can make a huge advance in terms of bridging that divide, in terms of bringing the two sides together, by allowing an independent investigation that all sides can point to as impartial and objective." The paper did not say how many of the defendants were Uighurs. However, it reported that more than 170 Uighur and 20 Han lawyers had been assigned, suggesting that the bulk were members of the minority group. Prosecutors have prepared more than 3,300 items of physical evidence for the trial, including bricks and clubs stained with blood, 91 video clips and more than 2,150 photos, the paper said. Kine said HRW was concerned that the Urumqi trials "will follow the same abuses of international process that we saw in the trials of suspects detained following the unrest in Tibet in March 2008."

DTN News: Pakistan Supports China's Stance On Xinjiang Says Asif Ali Zardari

DTN News: Pakistan Supports China's Stance On Xinjiang Says Asif Ali Zardari *Source: DTN News / Int'l Media (NSI News Source Info) BEIJING, China - August 22, 2009: Pakistan President Asif Ali Zardari has supported China's policies in its insurgency hit Xinjiang region. Zardari, who arrived here on Friday on a four day visit, said Islamabad endorses China's policies in the riot hit Xinjiang region, where nearly 200 people were killed in ethnic riots between Muslim Uighurs and Han Chinese residents. "We are glad that the situation in Urumqi has been brought under control. We believe that China's policy of social harmony and development is producing great results for all Chinese people," Zardari told media persons in Islamabad before leaving for Beijing. When asked about Pakistan's relationship with China, Zardari said Beijing is an all-weather and time-tested friend of Islamabad. "We greatly value our cherished friendship and have complete trust on all bilateral, regional and global issues," Xinhua news agency quoted Zardari, as saying. Zardari, who is on his fourth visit to China since assuming office in 2008, said he wanted to translate China's tremendous success in various fields in Pakistan to make it a better country. "The reason that I keep going to China is to learn and educate myself, then transfer what I can experience and see, and then translate that success to Pakistan and accordingly hope to do better for my nation," he said. Commenting on the Swat military offensive, Zardari claimed that extremists have been forced to retreat, but said operation against the militants would continue until the writ of the government is fully established in the region. "We expect the military operation to continue until the writ of the government has been fully restored. Democracy is always a format of dialogue. But nobody would be allowed to take the law into their hands and extremism would not be tolerated," he said. Zardari said peace and normalcy is slowly returning to Swat, Malakand and Buner with people starting to return to their home. "The process of development has been launched. Economic activity is picking up gradually," he said, adding: "The social and administrative infrastructure has been restored in troubled areas."

DTN News: China Cracks Down On Organized Terror Outfits In Xijiang

DTN News: China Cracks Down On Organized Terror Outfits In Xijiang

*Source: DTN News / Int'l Media (NSI News Source Info) BEIJING, China - August 4, 2009: Police forces and state security agencies had prevented five organized terrorist attacks on civilians in China's far west Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, China's anti-terrorism sources said Monday.

Armed Chinese paramilitary policemen in riot gear march out of their barracks before the start of Friday's Muslim prayers near the Dong Kuruk Bridge mosque in the city of Urumqi in China's Xinjiang Autonomous Region July 17, 2009. Security remains heavy in ethnic Uighur neighbourhoods of Xinjiang regional capital Urumqi after riots on July 5 between the Muslim Uighur minority and majority Han Chinese wounded more than 1,600. The official Xinhua news agency said on Wednesday that 192 people were killed in the riots, and that around 1,000 people have been detained.

Police forces and state security authorities had successively crushed five organized terrorist plots in Urumqi, Kashgar, Aksu and Ili in Xinjiang.

Separatist "East Turkestan" terrorists both at home and abroad had been plotting attacks gainst civilians since the July 5 riot that left 197 dead and more than 1,600 injured in Urumqi, capital of Xinjiang.

The recent attempted attacks would have "damaged social stability and ethnic unity", the Xinhua news agency quoted the sources, as saying.

Anti-terrorism agencies had captured "a group of suspects involved in the terrorist activities" but the number of people arrested was not given.

Also confiscated were "guns, controlled knifes, explosives and materials advocating violence and terrorism." Further details were kept under wraps.

DTN News: China Urges Nationals In Turkey To Be Vigilant

DTN News: China Urges Nationals In Turkey To Be Vigilant *Source: DTN News / Int'l Media (NSI News Source Info) BEIJING, China - August 4, 2009: China's foreign ministry has urged its nationals in Turkey to take extra care, citing unspecified threats to their security. "Recently some people and groups have received threats against their security in Turkey," the foreign ministry said in a statement posted on its website over the weekend. China's foreign ministry statement urged Chinese in Turkey to pay constant attention to the conditions around them and try not to go out too much. "The foreign ministry's department of consular affairs urges Chinese nationals and groups in Turkey to strengthen security precautions and pay attention to how safe the situation is." China's relations with Turkey have been strained after unrest on July 5 in the northwest Chinese region of Xinjiang involving Turkic-speaking Muslim Uighurs that left at least 197 people dead. In reaction to the unrest, Turkey's Trade Minister Nihat Ergun last month called on consumers not to buy goods from China. Also in July, around 10,000 people attended a gathering in Istanbul organised by the Islamic Saadet party, angered by what they saw as Chinese mistreatment of the Uighurs. The foreign ministry statement urged Chinese in Turkey to pay constant attention to the conditions around them and try not to go out too much. "They should avoid crowds and sensitive areas to the greatest extent possible, and take necessary emergency precautions whether they stay at home or go out," it said. The statement did not describe the threats that have allegedly been levelled against Chinese in Turkey. A foreign ministry official contacted by AFP Monday declined immediate comment. China issued a security alert in mid-July to its citizens in Algeria after Al-Qaeda reportedly vowed to avenge the deaths of Muslims killed during the ethnic unrest.

DTN News: Chinese Police Detain 319 Linked To July Ethnic Rioting

DTN News: Chinese Police Detain 319 Linked To July Ethnic Rioting *Source: DTN News / Int'l Media (NSI News Source Info) BEIJING, China - August 3, 2009: Chinese police detained 319 people suspected of involvement in deadly ethnic rioting in northwestern Xinjiang region last month, after a "wanted" list of suspects spurred tip-offs, the official Xinhua news agency said Sunday. Security forces patrol the streets of Urumqi moments before Friday noon prayer, known as Jumu`ah to Muslims, Xinjiang province, China, 17 July 2009. The Public Security Bureau of the regional capital Urumqi made public July 30 a list of names and photos of 15 Uighurs it was seeking for their suspected role in the violence. "When the public security of Urumqi made an announcement... about those suspects who had been detained and those who were still on the 'wanted' list, it aroused the feelings of local residents and they had more initiative in exposing those suspects," Xinhua said. The report, which cited local security officials, didn't give a total for the number of people now being held in connection with the riots. Officials have previously said more than 1,500 had been detained. None has been publicly charged or released. In Xinjiang's worst ethnic violence in decades, Uighur rioters attacked majority Han Chinese in Urumqi on July 5 after taking to the streets to protest attacks on Uighur workers at a factory in south China in June that left two Uighurs dead. Hans in Urumqi sought revenge two days later. Officials said the violence left 197 dead, mostly Han Chinese.