ÖLÜ VE YARALI SAYISI HIZLA ARTIYOR/BU SEFER SADECE KADINLAR YÜRÜDÜ / UYGURLARIN SESİ KISILDI-ÇİN HABERLEŞMEYİ KESTİ / OLAYLARIN OLDUĞU BÖLGEDEKİ UYGURLARDAN İLK AÇIKLAMALARIN GÖRÜNTÜLERİDeath toll rises in XinjiangViolence in the capital of autonomous Xinjiang region has left 156 people dead, 1080 injured.
Posted 06.07.2009 07:07:00 UTC
Updated 07.07.2009 08:14:59 UTC
Sunday’s peaceful protest in Urumqi, the capital of China’s autonomous Xinjiang region where Uyghur Turks are densely populated, has turned out to be a violent protest when police crackdown on their demonstrations.
Thousands of Muslim Uighur Turks gathered on Sunday, July 5, near a shopping center in Urumqi for a demonstration. The protest started with demonstrators demanding a probe into a fight between Uyghur and Han Chinese workers at a southern China factory last month. The unrest is reported to has been sparked by harsh intervention of the police forces, which has left 156 people dead so far, 1080 also injured according to China’s state media. Official sources say 1434 people have been taken into custody.
The official toll makes the unrest the deadliest single incident of unrest in Xinjiang in recent decades.
Wu Nong, director of the news office of the Xinjiang provincial government, said more than 260 vehicles were attacked or set on fire and 203 houses were damaged, according to Reuters news agency.
Mobile phone service in the region has been cut on Monday. Police forces have secured television channels and energy companies.
The unrest has spread to second largest city of the autonomous region, Kashgar. Hundreds of people are reported to have been blockaded.
Chinese government accuses World Uyghur Congress concerning the tragic events. Denying the allegations, Deputy Secretary-General of the World Uyghur Congress claimed that the unrest emanates from government’s policies and possession of economic sources by Chinese residents.
The events sparked just a week after Turkish President Abdullah Gül’s 6-day visit to China, where President Gül also paid a visit to Xinjiang region, meeting Chinese and Turkish authorities.
Xinjiang region is the gateway of China to Central Asia, especially for trade and energy. It is the homeland of Uyghur Turks for centuries and has rich reserves of natural gas and minerals. However, it is not easy to say that Uyghurs are able to enjoy these opportunities.
Reactions around the world
In a statement released on Monday afternoon, Turkish Foreign Ministry expressed “deep sadness” over the incidents and urged the Chinese authorities to find the perpetrators and deliver justice. The statement said “we believe that necessary measures will be taken so that such incidents will not be repeated in the future in China, which is advancing quickly toward becoming a stable and prosperous country".
United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, when asked about the rioting, urged governments on Monday to respect their people's right to protest. "All the differences of opinion, whether domestic or international, must be resolved peacefully through dialogue," Secretary-General told a news conference in Geneva.
"The governments concerned must also exercise extreme care and take the necessary measures to protect the life and safety of civilian populations, and also protect the properties and the freedoms of speech, assembly and information," Ban Ki-moon said.
Besides, the Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC) said in a statement that there were signs that the Chinese authorities used excessive force: “The great number of casualties among civilians indicates that the principle of proportionality of the use of force and firearms was not observed. According to international basic principles on the use of force and firearms, law enforcement officials should resort to non-lethal methods in confronting civilian riots.”
The unrest underscores the volatile ethnic tensions that have accompanied China's growing economic and political stake in its western frontiers. Xinjiang is a sprawling region rich in minerals and oil that borders eight Central Asian nations. Critics say the millions of Han Chinese who have settled here in recent years are gradually squeezing the Turkic people out of their homeland.
Hiç yorum yok:
Yorum Gönder