Tuesday, July 7, 2009

China: Race riots rock Xinjiang


(photo Globe and Mail)

156 people were killed in race-riots in the Xinjiang region of China... The tensions between Uighur minority and the Han majority seem to have boiled over again, prompting China to send over 20,000 police, army and firefighters to the area to reclaim the streets.

The Communist party has said it is detaining over 1400 people in connection to these riots. Gangs of Uighur are reportedly marching in the streets beating anyone who is not Muslim and gangs of Han Chinese are marching the streets beating Muslims.

Amazing! Didn't we just have the Olympics in China? Where peace and a harmonious society was supposed to prevail? Perhaps not everyone in China shares the "government's" point of view on harmonious living, especially in the ethnic (for lack of a better term) regions of the country such as Tibet and Xinjiang, where tension between the natives and the Chinese has been constant, or so it seems to us in the west.

China has slowed mobile phone and Internet services, tried to block Twitter and many social networking sites in order to attempt to put out the fire in the area and prevent those fighting from communicating. China is also saying that outside influence sparked the deadly riots.

I'd really like to say that one side is wrong and one is right... But my understanding of this whole business just isn't enough to render an educated judgment, so I'll just leave it by saying:
156 dead? because of race? It. is. utterly. stupid.

Muchacho Enfermo



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2 comments:

Usha said...

Over 1200 are injured. All in the name of race. Often the misdoings that occur in Shanghai are blamed upon the Xinjiang people who have settled here.

I find it hard to blame any one party . The daily life of a Ughyur is already kinda depressing.
Despite being the largest province it is hardly ever acknowledged by the government much less by their fellow Chinese men.

Sighs.

Muchacho Enfermo said...

It's really sad isn't it? This stuff breaks my heart and is way WAAAAY beyond my comprehension!