2008 Uyghur unrest
Encyclopedia
Communal violence
Communal violence refers to a situation where violence is perpetrated across ethnic lines, and victims are chosen based upon ethnic group membership...
by Uyghur people
Uyghur people
The Uyghur are a Turkic ethnic group living in Eastern and Central Asia. Today, Uyghurs live primarily in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region in the People's Republic of China...
in Hotan and Qaraqash county of Western China
Western China
Western China , refers to the western part of China. In the definition of the Chinese government, Western China covers six provinces: Gansu, Guizhou, Qinghai, Shaanxi, Sichuan, and Yunnan; one municipality: Chongqing; and three autonomous regions: Ningxia, Tibet, and Xinjiang.-Administrative...
, with incidents in March, April, and August 2008. The protests were spurred by the death in police custody of Mutallip Hajim
Mutallip Hajim
Mutallip Hajim was a prominent Uyghur businessman from Xinjiang province in China who died while in police custody.-Life:Hajim was a wealthy Uyghur jade trader and philanthropist. In January 2008 Hajim was taken into custody by police in Hotan. On 3 March 2008 Hajim’s body was returned to his...
.
The authorities label groups like the Hizb ut-Tahrir al-Islami (Islamic Party of Liberation) or the East Turkestan Islamic Movement
East Turkestan Islamic Movement
The East Turkestan Islamic Movement The East Turkestan Islamic Movement (ETIM) The East Turkestan Islamic Movement (ETIM) (also known as the Turkistan Islamic Movement (TIM), and other names; is a Waziri based mujahideen organization. Its stated goals are the independence of East Turkestan and the...
terrorists and attribute to them most of unrest activities of the last years.
Incidents
According to reports, on 18 March 2008, an Uighur woman detonated a bomb on a city bus in UrumqiÜrümqi
Ürümqi , formerly Tihwa , is the capital of Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region of the People's Republic of China, in the northwest of the country....
, escaping before the explosion. While officials denied the incident, the International Herald Tribune
International Herald Tribune
The International Herald Tribune is a widely read English language international newspaper. It combines the resources of its own correspondents with those of The New York Times and is printed at 38 sites throughout the world, for sale in more than 160 countries and territories...
reported of residents confirming the bombing.
Many businesses belonging to those that belong to the Muslim ethnic group Hui were destroyed by the separatist group.
On 23 March 2008, Muslim Uighurs held anti-government protests in the far western region of Xinjiang
Xinjiang
Xinjiang is an autonomous region of the People's Republic of China. It is the largest Chinese administrative division and spans over 1.6 million km2...
, China. Chinese officials blamed separatists inspired by the 2008 Tibetan unrest. Demonstrators took to the streets at the weekly bazaar in Hotan. The authorities maintain tight controls on information from the area and reports of deaths or their denial could not be independently verified.
Demonstrations followed the death in custody of a wealthy Uyghur jade trader and philanthropist, Mutallip Hajim
Mutallip Hajim
Mutallip Hajim was a prominent Uyghur businessman from Xinjiang province in China who died while in police custody.-Life:Hajim was a wealthy Uyghur jade trader and philanthropist. In January 2008 Hajim was taken into custody by police in Hotan. On 3 March 2008 Hajim’s body was returned to his...
, 38. The protesters, who according to several accounts numbered around 600, began their march at the Lop
Lop County
The Lop County is a county within the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region and is under the administration of the Khotan Prefecture. It contains an area of 14,264 km2. According to the 2002 census, it has a population of 240,000....
bus station. An unknown number of men joined their 2 km (1.2 mi) march to the Big Bazaar shopping area, where they were surrounded by police who arrested around 400.
The New York Times
The New York Times
The New York Times is an American daily newspaper founded and continuously published in New York City since 1851. The New York Times has won 106 Pulitzer Prizes, the most of any news organization...
reported that the demonstrators were hoisting banners and shouting pro-independence slogans before the police forces moved in.
On 23 March and 24 March 2008, as many as 1,000 people in Hotan and Karakax County took to the streets in protest. The protests coincided with unrest in Tibet
2008 Tibetan unrest
The 2008 Tibetan unrest, also known from its Chinese name as the 3•14 Riots, was a series of riots, protests, and demonstrations that started in Tibetan regional capital of Lhasa and spread to other Tibetan areas and a number of monasteries including outside the Tibet Autonomous Region...
, but the motivations appeared to be local. One issue that reportedly brought locals to the streets in protest was a government ban on women wearing headscarf
Headscarf
Headscarves or head scarves are scarves covering most or all of the top of a woman's hair and her head. Headscarves may be worn for a variety of purposes, such as for warmth, for sanitation, for fashion or social distinction; with religious significance, to hide baldness, out of modesty, or other...
s. Another issue was the death of Mutallip Hajim. Alim Seytoff, head of the World Uyghur Congress
World Uyghur Congress
The World Uyghur Congress is an international organisation of exiled Uyghur groups said to "represent the collective interest of the Uyghur people" both inside and outside of the Xinjiang Autonomous Region of the People's Republic of China...
, stated that, "The Uighurs began protesting after the killing of Mutallip Hajim, who had died in police custody." This claim was echoed by unnamed sources in a Radio Free Asia
Radio Free Asia
Radio Free Asia is a private, nonprofit corporation that operates a radio station and Internet news service. RFA was founded by an act of the US Congress and is operated by the Broadcasting Board of Governors . The RFA is supported in part by grants from the federal government of the United States...
report. Local police and the government run religious affairs department refused to comment on Hajim's death when contacted by Agence France-Presse
Agence France-Presse
Agence France-Presse is a French news agency, the oldest one in the world, and one of the three largest with Associated Press and Reuters. It is also the largest French news agency. Currently, its CEO is Emmanuel Hoog and its news director Philippe Massonnet...
.
Police arrested 70 people from Uyghur ethnic group in the Silk Road
Silk Road
The Silk Road or Silk Route refers to a historical network of interlinking trade routes across the Afro-Eurasian landmass that connected East, South, and Western Asia with the Mediterranean and European world, as well as parts of North and East Africa...
oasis city of Kashgar
Kashgar
Kashgar or Kashi is an oasis city with approximately 350,000 residents in the western part of the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region of the People's Republic of China. Kashgar is the administrative centre of Kashgar Prefecture which has an area of 162,000 km² and a population of approximately...
on 3 April, fearing trouble when the Olympic torch passes through the city in June, The Guardian
The Guardian
The Guardian, formerly known as The Manchester Guardian , is a British national daily newspaper in the Berliner format...
reported.
Residents of townships and villages near Gulja, a city in northwestern Xinjiang, said that about 25 Uighurs were arrested on 4 April on a tip that people in the area were making bombs.
On 4 August 2008, two men attacked a police post near the city of Kashgar
Kashgar
Kashgar or Kashi is an oasis city with approximately 350,000 residents in the western part of the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region of the People's Republic of China. Kashgar is the administrative centre of Kashgar Prefecture which has an area of 162,000 km² and a population of approximately...
. They threw two improvised explosive device
Improvised explosive device
An improvised explosive device , also known as a roadside bomb, is a homemade bomb constructed and deployed in ways other than in conventional military action...
s and attacked at the police with knives. According to the government news agency, 16 policemen died and another 16 were injured.
On 10 August 2008, in the oasis town of Kuqa
Kuqa
Kuqa may refer to:*Kuqa County, Xinjiang, China*Kuqa City, seat of Kuqa County...
, a series of explosions and shootings were reported. The explosions occurred at various police stations and office buildings. The events claimed 12 deaths, 10 of which were of the attackers themselves.
On 12 August 2008, unidentified men assaulted civilian guards with knives in Yamanya Town, leaving three dead and one critically injured.
On 28 August 2008, a group of policemen were attacked by six to seven attackers with knives in the town of Qizilboy in Peyzawat county, resulting in the death two ethnic Uyghur police officers and at least two other policemen critically injured. According to the deputy Peyzawat county police chief, Omerjan, the police officers who are all ethnic Uyghurs were searching a cornfield following a tip that a woman suspected of aiding assailants in the Yamanya attack was hiding there.
See also
- East Turkestan independence movementEast Turkestan independence movementThe East Turkestan independence movement is a broad term that refers to advocates of an independent, self-governing East Turkestan in the region now known as Xinjiang, an autonomous region in the People's Republic of China.-Historical background:...
- East Turkestan Islamic MovementEast Turkestan Islamic MovementThe East Turkestan Islamic Movement The East Turkestan Islamic Movement (ETIM) The East Turkestan Islamic Movement (ETIM) (also known as the Turkistan Islamic Movement (TIM), and other names; is a Waziri based mujahideen organization. Its stated goals are the independence of East Turkestan and the...
- Rebiya KadeerRebiya KadeerRebiya Kadeer is a prominent Uyghur businesswoman and political activist from the northwest region of Xinjiang Autonomus Region of the People's Republic of China...
- 2008 Tibetan unrest2008 Tibetan unrestThe 2008 Tibetan unrest, also known from its Chinese name as the 3•14 Riots, was a series of riots, protests, and demonstrations that started in Tibetan regional capital of Lhasa and spread to other Tibetan areas and a number of monasteries including outside the Tibet Autonomous Region...
- July 2009 Ürümqi riots