Xinjiang Riots in 2009
In July 2009 blood riots broke out in Urumqi, a city of 2.3 million in Xinjiang, that, according to the Chinese government, resulted in the deaths of 197 people—mostly Han Chinese— and injured 1,700. This was more than were officially killed and injured in the Tibet riots in 2008. The riots were the bloodiest known incident in China since Tiananmen Square in 1989.
There had been demonstrations and terrorist attacks in the past in Xinjiang but not the spontaneous and bloody unleashing of anger and frustration that occurred this time. Uighur expert Dru Gladney at Pomona College told AP, “We haven’t had anything like this, really, ever. It really gives strong evidence of widespread unrest and discontentment.”
There were many parallels between the riots in Xinjiang and the ones a year earlier in Tibet. Both Tibetans and Uighurs seemed frustrated by the same things—unfair treatment, lack of jobs and opportunities, growing migrations of Han Chinese and restrictions and crackdowns on their freedoms, religions and way of life. In both Urumqi and Lhasa, protests that began peacefully quickly became violent and out of control with the brunt of the wrath of the mobs directed at the Han Chinese. In both cases the violence seemed to be a spontaneous outbursts rather than coordinated, planned attacks even though the Chinese government said otherwise, blaming outsiders.
Most of the violence occurred in Urumqi although some violence was reported in Kashgar and other Xinjiang cities. People’s Square in central Urumqi served as a gathering area for both Uighurs and Han Chinese, who then spread from there to carry out attacks in other parts of the city.
Much of the information on the riots came from official Chinese sources. In the official casualty figures by the Chinese government, three quarters if the dead were Han Chinese. When the death toll was listed at 184, a total of 137 were Han and 46 were Uighurs and one was a Muslim Hui. Uighur groups said that more than 400 demonstrators were killed in Urumqi and between 1,000 and 3,000 Uighurs were killed throughout Xinjiang.
Trigger for Xinjiang Riots in 2009
The riots were triggered by a brawl between Han Chinese and Uighurs that took place more than 3,000 kilometers from Urumqi at the Xuri Toy Factory in Shaoguan in Guangdong Province in southern China that left two Uighurs dead and 118 injured, including 13 who were seriously hurt.
The brawl began after a Han Chinese girls entered a factory dormitory where Uighur workers from Xinjiang were staying, leading to a rumor that she had been sexually assaulted. According to Radio Free Asia interviews with Uighur workers, a mob of Chinese workers and gang members from the area stormed into the dormitory beating Uighurs and hacking them with a machete.
Uighurs say that many more than two Uighurs were killed. Graphic photographs widely circulated on the Internet showed at least a half dozen of dead Uighurs, with Han Chinese standing over them with their arms raised in victory
Ten days later there were demonstrations and riots in Urumqi.
Details of the Xinjiang Riots in 2009
The riots broke out on July 5 after police stopped an initially peaceful protest of 1,000 to 3,000 people, mostly Uigur youths, The protestors were demanding an investigation into the factory brawl in southern China. There were widespread views among Uighurs that government didn’t care about them or their concerns.
Uighurs said the police sparked the rioting by shooting at peaceful protestors as they tried to stop the demonstration and disperse the crowd. The crowds refused to disperse and overturned barricades and attacked vehicles, and houses and clashed with police.
The crowds then scattered throughout Urumqi. Uighurs protestors attacked, looted and set fire to Han businesses. They smashed windows, burned cars, and attacked Han Chinese. In area f Han-owned car dealerships windows were smashed and brand new cars were overturned.
State television showed images of protesters attacking and kicking people on the ground. In one image two men, appearing to be Uighurs, were shown kicking a Han woman as she lay on a sidewalk. Other people, who appeared to be Han Chinese, sat dazed with blood pouring down their faces. One images showed a bloodied man trying to stand tup. Another showed two girls with blood on their hands comforting each other. There was also footage of a crowds of men pushing over a police car, smashing its windows and throwing stones at it. Early reports said 260 vehicles were attacked or set on fire and 203 houses were damaged on the first day of rioting.
A few weeks after the riots the Chinese government said that Chinese police killed 12 people, a rare acknowledgment that the government had a direct hand in the violence. Xinjiang governor Nur Bekri said that police shot “mobsters” after firing warning shots but did not identify the ethnicity of the victims. “The police showed as much restraint as possible during the unrest,” he said, adding that many police were injured and one was killed.
Police Crackdowns During the Xinjiang Riots in 2009
Police and paramilitary troops were dispatched. Helicopters dropped leaflets calling for calm. A curfew that ran from 9:00pm to 8:00am was imposed. Groups of 30 police marched through the streets chanting slogans encouraging ethnic unity. Vehicle cruised around blaring public announcements in the Uighur language that exiled Uighur leader Rebiya Kadeer instigated the riots.
Hundreds of troops camped out in the central part of Urumqi. Shops were shuddered. Mosque was closed during Friday prayers on the ground that the gathering would used to organized protests and attacks. The area around People’s Square was carefully guarded. Military helicopters flew overhead. Mobile phone service was cut off.
A Han woman who supported the mosque closure told AP, “Of course the mosque should be closed. Just look at all the damage that has been done, This is a patriotic move for the safety and well-being of all the ethnic groups.”
Police Crackdowns on Uighurs During the Xinjiang Riots in 2009
A fierce crackdown ensued after reports began circulating that 100 Uighurs, armed with wooden staves, were roaming the streets intent on attacking local party officials. Relaying reports given to her by local Uighurs Jane Macartney wrote in the Times of London, “Men hid in their houses; some were pulled out from under their beds during a police search...Police entered the crowded, slum-like courtyards and ordered the men out. They checked their identity cards. Many were taken out on the main road, ordered to strip to their underpants and lie down on the ground with their hands behind their heads...Once all the suspects had been detained, they were loaded into trucks and driven off.”
Uighurs, many of them women, protested the arrest of relatives. In some cases the faced off with police, wailing and waving the identity cards of their husbands, brothers and sons. One woman told Reuters, “My husband was taken away...by police. They didn’t say why. They just took him away.”
Tursun Gul, an Uighur woman whose husband and four brothers were taken away by police, confronted police demanding they tell her where her husband was. After joining a crowd of 300 women who had rushed into the street she stepped out from the crowd and walked straight toward a row of advancing armored personnel carriers and forced them to back off. It was moment similar to one when the lone man faced down the tanks at Tiananmen Square in 1989. “I thought if they beat me or killed me there were more people behind me who would take my place,” Gul told the Times of London, “I told police that we wanted freedom and a peaceful life. Just let my five men go.”
Han Retaliation to Xinjiang Riots in 2009
On July 7th, two days after the initial riots, Han Chinese in Urumqi, demanding revenge, took to the streets wielding machetes, steel pipes, cleavers, bricks, chains, poles and other weapons and staged attacks in Uighur neighborhoods.
The fact that police and security forces were out in full force was not enough to deter vengeful Han from hunting down Uighurs and destroyed shops owned by Uighurs.
In some places Han and Uighurs clashed face to face and threw rock and brock and other objects at one another while Han shouted “attack Uighurs.” Police fired tear gas to disperse he crowds. One Han man who participated in the battle told Reuters, “They attacked us. Now it’s our turn to attack them.”
Large groups of paramilitary police—that including both Han and Uighurs— guarded the main road to Uighur neighborhoods. Most were armed with shields and batons. Some had assault rifles fixed with bayonets. Leaflets dropped form helicopters pleaded with people to stay at home. The police used their shields to push Han protesters away but in some cases protesters briefly broke through the police lines,.
At one point a Han mob began marching towards the Xinjiang regional government offices, saying the government was too weak, “Now its time to go to the government,” a protester named Zhang said.
At this point security forces focused their energy on cooling down the Han Chinese mobs. One Han Chinese man told AP, “the government told us not to get involved in any kind of violence. They’ve been broadcasting this on the radio and they even drove through neighborhoods with speakers telling people not to carry weapons.”
One Uighur businessman told AP, “We don’t believed this. They need to tell the Han to retreat. We’re going to stay here to protect our homes.” The leader of a group of 10 Uighur men said, “We’re just protecting our homes, We’re not planning a counterattack.”
Some Order is Restored After Xinjiang Riots in 2009
Some calm was restored as more security forces from the outside began arriving in Urumqi. According to AP, “Crowds of Han Chinese...cheered as trucks full of police and covered by banners reading ‘We must defeat the terrorists’ and ‘Oppose ethnic separatism and hatred’ rumbled by...Uighurs became more fearful about talking to reporters.”
But things were still very tense. A Han supermarket owner told AFP a week after the initial riot, “It’s still very dangerous.” When asked about entering the Uighur part of town he said, “I had friends who went there yesterday who were threatened by Uighurs and they had to run out of there.” One Han from Jiangsu Province who arrived in Urumqi after he riots told the Los Angeles Times, “I head everything was great here, but when I got in, everything was scary.” Around thus time police shot dead two Uighurs in renewed violence
There calls by ordinary Uighurs and Han for peace. Tusun Gul told the Times of London, “The Han don’t hate the Uighurs and the Uighurs don’t hate the Han. I have sympathy for the Han people who were killed. We need to have ethnic unity.”
Responsibility for Xinjiang Riots in 2009
Beijing said the riots had nothing to do with China’s ethnic policies or the migration of Han Chinese to Xinjiang. Authorities blame “separatists” for the riots and placed direct blame on Rebiya Kadeer for fomenting the violence. Xinjiang governor Nur Bekri said, “Rebiya had phone conversations with people in China on July 5 in order to incite and Web sites...were used to orchestrate the incitement and spread propaganda.” A letter reportedly signed by her son and daughter blamed her for starting the riots. Kadeer denied that her children would sign such a letter unless they were coerced to.
State television said, “This was an incident remotely controlled, directed and incited from abroad, and executed inside the country. It was a planned and organized violent crime.” As evidence that the riots were coordinated by outriders, Beijing pointed to the fact that some of the attacks occurred at the same time as demonstrations against Chinese consulates in Europe and the United States.
Some think that riots a year earlier in Tibet had an influence on Xinjiang. Rohan Gunaratna, a Singapore-based terrorism expert, told AP, “One protest movement will influence another protest movement. To a significant extent, the protest in Tibet has influenced the protests in Xinjiang.”
Media Coverage of the Xinjiang Riots in 2009
The government described Urumqi riots as “beating, smashing, looting and burning incidents”—the same exact wording they used during the Tibetan riots. State television repeatedly showed images of violence against Han victims as was the case during the Tibet riots. Foreign journalist were not barred from Urumqi but were put up a hotel where a media center was set up and were taken on officials tours in which the government helped the “foreign media to do more objective, fair and friendly reports.”
David Zewig, media expert at Hong Kong University of Science and Technology told Reuters, “If they try to suppress coverage, then the foreign media write its own stories...whereas here, they can encourage foreign media to understand their view better. By taking people to see it, they make their case that there was violence by Uighurs. Otherwise people won’t write that story.”
Response to the Xinjiang Riots in 2009
Chinese President Hu Jintao cut short a trip to Italy, where he was to participate in the Group of Eight summit and hold talks with U.S. President Barack Obama. Having to leave like that was seen as an embarrassment and personal blow to quest for a “harmonious society.”
International Uighur groups condemned the crackdown on Uighurs. A representative with the Washington-based Uighur American Association said, “We are extremely saddened by the heavy-handed use of force by the Chinese security forces against the peaceful demonstrators...We ask the international community to condemn China’s killing of innocent Uighurs. This is a very dark day in the history of the Uighur people.”
The United States and the United Nations called for restraint. The White House said it was “deeply concerned.” U.N. secretary Ban Ki Moo said, “all differences of opinion whether domestic or international must be resolved peacefully through dialogue.”
Seyfullah, the military leader of the Islamist group the Turkestan Islamic Party (TIP) urged Muslims to attack Chinese interests both at home and abroad in retaliation for the “barbaric massacre” and “genocide” of Uighur Muslims in Xinjiang. “Know that this Muslim people have men who will take revenge for them,” Seyfullah said in a video message, “Soon, the horsemen of Allah will attack you, Allah Willing, So lie in wait; indeed, we lie in wait with you.” The group had previously announced it would stage attacks during the 2008 Olympics.
In the United States, human rights and religious freedom groups pushed for the Obama government to put sanctions on China. Chinese nationals in Turkey, Algeria and other Muslim countries were told to be alert for retaliatory attacks there. The Turkish Prime Minister called the attacks “genocide.” The Turkish trade Minister had called on consumers not to buy Chinese-made goods. An Algeria-based Al-Qaida arm—Al-Qaida in the Islamic Maghreb— said it would avenge the deaths if Muslims in Urumqi by targeting Chinese working in North Africa. It was the first time that Al-Qaida directly threatened China or its interests.
Demonstrators threw eggs and Molotov cocktails and stones at several Chinese embassies and consulates in Ankara, Oslo, Munich and the Netherlands. There were also protests in Istanbul, Berlin and Canberra
After the Xinjiang Riots in 2009
The curfew that was put in place lasted until early September. Phones, text messaging and Internet service were cut off. A most wanted list of Uighur fugitives with 15 names and photographs was released along with a notice that those who informed or turned themselves in would have their punishments reduced. A Xinjiang Communist official said, “We will continue to resolutely crackdown on aggressive move by the enemies and curb violent crimes with an iron hand.” Nationwide efforts were stepped to train official how to handle public disturbances.
Thousands fled Urumqi. These included both Uighurs, fleeing to their villages in the Xinjiang countryside, and Han who returned to their home provinces. So many people wanted to get to get out that scalpers were able to sell tickets for five times their face value for trains and buses. One 23-year-old Han construction worker told AFP, “It’s just too risky to stay here.”
Chinese President Hu Jintao visited Urumqi in late August. He did some photo ops with Uighur in traditional clothes and said the government should focus on bringing stability and warned separatist they were “doomed to fail.”
Urumqi residents said the demonstrations destroyed businesses and scared visitors away from the city. A week or so after the violence a Hui Muslim vendor told Reuter, “It’s too tense right here. How can I make money with no customers around? One Uighur woman who did open her shop said “We are getting used to [the tension] already.”
Needle Attacks After the Xinjiang Riots in 2009
In September 2009, a couple months after the riots, reports of syringe attacks in Urumqi panicked the city. Some schools were closed More than 500 people—mostly Han Chinese— complained of being pricked with hypodermic needles but only 171 showed any evidence of possibly being attacked and maybe less than a dozen really were attacked. Some just had mosquito bites.
There were rumors that the injections contained toxic chemicals or strains of a deadly infectious disease such as AIDS. The government blamed the attacks on Muslim separatists. Han Chinese in Urumqi blamed the Uighurs. One Han man told Reuters, “We thought we could get AIDS or something and kids and women were stabbed so it was really terrifying.”
Li Zhi, Urumqi’s Communist Party boss said the syringe stabbings were part of coordinated effort by Muslim separatist to stir up ethnic divisions, “This was a grave terrorist crime,” he said. “The hope; was to create ethnic divisions and stir up ethnic antagonism in a bid to overturn social order, split the motherland and split the Chinese nation.
Response to the Needle Attacks After the Xinjiang Riots in 2009
The attacks and rumors of attacks fueled further resentment by Han towards Uighurs. An Uighur merchant told Reuters, “I believe there were some needle attacks by terrorists. But it has really hurt the rest of us, who are completely innocent...Han are the majority here and there aren’t very many of us to begin with, and when you walk down the street the Han look at us with such hatred and suspicion. They might beat us up. For the last few days I didn’t dare leave my home.”
Those caught committing needle attacks face three years to life in prison. Punishment were also harsh for spreading rumors and falsely reporting a needle attacks. According to an official notice: “Those who deliberately concoct and spread false information about innocent members of the public being stabbed with needles” could be tried and sentenced to up to five years in jail.”
The frenzy died down somewhat after military doctors tried to reassure people that the needle attacks would not spread AIDS. One man told Reuters, “Now, we know that even if you are stabbed, it’s not a big deal, so that’s a relief. The main thing is that people are not really hurt.”
Twenty-five Uighurs were arrested in connection with the needle attacks. Among them were heroin addicts that used the threat of needle stabbing to rob a taxi driver of around $100 and fight off police trying to arrests them The two involved in the taxi robbery—a 34-year-old Uighur man and 22-year-old Uighur woman—received sentenced of 10 years and 7 years respectively. A 19-year-old Uigur was given 15 years for using a pin to stab a fruit seller. Four others Uighur men were given sentences between 8 and 15 years for planning a needle attacks against a Han woman in an underground passageway
More Demonstrations After the Xinjiang Riots in 2009
In September 2009, tens of thousands of Han Chinese took to the streets, demanding the removal of Xinjiang’s leaders and calling for swift justice for the perpetrators of the riots. The demonstrations were triggered in part by the panic over the syringe attacks and outrage that government wasn’t doing enough to protect citizens.
Han protesters tried to storm Uighur areas after a a rumor spread that two Uighur men attacked an 11-year-old Han boy. Thousands of police backed by tanks and metal barriers took up positions around Uighur neighborhoods and set up check points around government and Communist Party headquarters. Traffic was bared from much of the downtown area. Many shops were closed. Police used tear gas t break up angry crowds of Han Chinese.
One Han protestor told Reuters, “They have no right to block the road like this. These Uighurs have been stabbing use with needles. We need to take care of the problem.”
Violence connected with demonstrations left five dead and resulted in the firing of Urumqi’s Communist Party chief, Li Zhi, and Xinjiang’s police chief. It was not clear who the five dead were.
Arrests and Executions After Xinjiang Riots
More than 2,000 people were detained and 83 were formally arrested. Before he was fired Li Zhi, said “to those who have committed crimes with cruel means, we will execute them.” Meng Jianzhu, China’s top security minister, promised “the utmost severe punishment” for those who led the violence.
In October 2009, a court in Xinjiang sentenced six men to death for murder and other crimes committed during the riots. Their named appeared to to identify them as Uighurs. One of the those given the death penalty, Abdukerim Abduwayit was charged with killing five people with a dagger and metal pipe. Four others wertr charged with beating four people to death and setting ablaze vehicles and shops that killed five others.
In October 2009, a court sentenced one man with a Han Chinese name to death on charges of intentionally harming others. Another was given life imprisonment and nine others were given prison terms of five to eight years.
Image Sources:
Text Sources: CNTO, New York Times, Washington Post, Los Angeles Times, Times of London, National Geographic, The New Yorker, Time, Newsweek, Reuters, AP, Lonely Planet Guides, Compton’s Encyclopedia and various books and other publications.
© 2009 Jeffrey Hays