China: Call for tough response and resent of biased media

With the presence of thousands of armed police, Urumqi, the capital of Xinjiang province, has largely restored order and people are returning to their normal life. The violence that has led to 156 death in past a few days seemed to be gone, but the images of the brutal killings haunted people's mind across the country.

Although the official media keeps appealing for national and ethnic solidarity, the pictures and coverage of the riot presented to most Chinese indicate it is nothing but a hate crime directed at Han Chinese by Uygur gangs. Furious at that scores of innocent people were killed, Chinese netizens are calling for a tough response to what they think is exactly a terrorist attack.

Kukumusic told what he heared from his friend in Urumqi. In his eyes, he saw no so-called ‘peaceful protest’ by Uygurs but only brutal butchers:

早上起来终于联系到了一个在乌市的哥们儿,很高兴他还活着(不是开玩笑),后来说到了乌市的现况,他跟我说了点那边动乱的细节,和现在网上论坛里报道的有些不同,一起说出来吧。
维族人在大街上见到汉族人就上去割喉,分成7、8人一组,杀了汉人后,5秒钟就散开,走在路上,常看见躺着很多具尸体。
暴乱的维族人都是生活在贫困线下的维族,据说被境外收买后,实施暴动行为。有一些维族人已经到了丧心病狂的地步,有直接把人从天桥上往下扔,更狠的是有些维族普通老百姓也受到牵连,也被他们错打。

In the morning I finally reached to my friend in Urumqi. Glad that he was still alive (no joking). We talked about the riot, which he revealed to me a lot more details different from what I have seen on the internet.
Uygur gangs rushed to every Han Chinese they saw and cut their throats in groups of 7 and 8. After the murder, they dispersed in 5 seconds. Walking along the street, he can see dead bodies around.
The rioters are those living in poverty. It is said they were manipulated by foreign organizers to carry out the violent killings. Some Uygurs are just crazy that they threw people straight from the bridge. More violently, they even mistakenly slaughtered their own people.

In EastSouthWestNorth.com, a number of witness accounts were translated into English, along with bloody pictures. The people injured, judged from their appreance, are most Han Chinese.

The brutal killings obviously provoked many netizens. Therefore, on the internet the call for a tough strike-back is prevailing. Some even complained the government is too soft.
lgf5156 (YY无罪) said:

我刚才和在乌鲁木齐工作的弟弟通了电话,感觉乌市汉人对政府的所作所为非常不满
认为
1 政府没有很好的保护他们,不相信政府。恐怖分子杀人时,打砸抢时没有武警(这个可能是政府对事件估计不足),等汉族人上街游行时,又是直升机,又是武警,催泪瓦斯,政府指挥镇压汉族人。
2 单位里本来很荣恰的民族关系变得很紧张。只要看到屠杀的汉族人,永远不会对维族有好感了。这是一个非常严重的问题。也非常难以解决。

I have just called my brother working in Urumqi. It can be felt that Han Chinese there are very discontent of the government's performance during the riot.
1. They were not well protected. They don't believe in the government. When the terrorists killed and robbed there are no armed police (perhaps the government underestimated the situation). But when the Han Chinese marched on street, there were helicopters, armed police and tear gas to stop us.
2. The harmonious ethnic relationship in our company turned tense. As long as people saw the scenes that Han were viciously killed, I am afraid they would no longer feel kind of Uygurs. It is a very serious problem.

The harm by the riot to both Uygurs and Han Chinese in Xinjiang is destined to be far-reaching. No one would forget the battle-field-like, horrible killings happened in Urumqi.

A journalist noted down what he experienced after the interview of Uygur women protesting for their missing husbands and sons who are said to be arrested:

当记者结束採访赛马场维族妇女示威后,约过了20分钟,好不容易找到的士返回酒店,车子刚行驶约10分 钟途经大湾北路时,经验丰富的汉族的士司机感觉前面气氛不对,急忙停车说,不能再走这条路了。记者不解其意,问他「为什麽不走?」仅过了1分钟,就见前面 许多行人像避雨一样慌张跑过来,有人边跑边喊,「快跑呀,前面又有事了!」循声望去,只见眼前100米路面已被大批维族人封锁,随即传来玻璃破碎声。的士 司机见状急忙掉头,四周汽车纷纷转向,一时间交通秩序大乱。Mitbbs.com
记者从未经历如此紧张场面,只见路上行人朝同一个方向奔跑….车子至一个交叉路口刚要转弯,车后忽有女人拼命拍打车尾,急呼「帮帮忙,我跑不动了」,好心的司机停车让她上车,
一行人脱险后,记者反问司机﹕「刚才情景好像在伊拉克打仗,要这样紧张吗?」司机回答说,「你没经历过当时惨景,那些维族暴徒连妇女小孩都不放过,被他们撞到能有好结果吗?」

20 minutes after the interview, I finally got a taxi back to hotel. 10 minustes later, when the taxi passed by Dawan N Road, the experienced Han driver felt something wrong and stopped the car, saying ‘we can't go this way’. I wondered what happened. But 1 minute later I saw a crowd running up to us as if a pouring rain was coming, some yelling ‘Run, something is going on ahead’. I looked that way and found a gang of Uygurs has blocked the street. I heared windows crashed. The driver turned away immediately with all other cars. The traffic is chaotic.
I have never seen such a tension. All people ran to the same direction. When our taxi was about to turn, a woman flapped on the window shouting, ‘I can't run anymore, help!’ We stopped to let her in.
When we got out of the danger, I asked the driver, ‘It was just like a war in Iraq. Do we have to be so?’ The driver said, ‘You don't know about that. Those gangs don't even let women and girls go. Nothing good would happen if they capture you’.

Many Han Chinese are grieved to see that, the effort to restore order in Urumqi is, again, was seen by some western media as ‘crackdown’, and the riot as but ‘peaceful protest.’
空气稀薄 complaint:

其实,为了维护民族团结,防止仇恨加剧,中国媒体的报道已经非常“不客观”了,那些血淋淋,惨不忍睹的镜头只有在海外媒体和互联网论坛上才可以见到,无耻的德国媒体竟然说中国政府用宣传propaganda来煽动汉人对维族人的仇恨。
如果是警方武力镇压造成所谓的维族“和平抗议者”大量伤亡,图片呢?视频呢?截至此刻,有哪家外媒,有哪个境外疆独组织能提供哪怕一张(段)这种性质的图片和视频?

Actually, in order to maintain ethnic harmony and prevent hatred, the Chinese media is already way too constraint. Those bloody and shocking images can only be seen in oversees media and internet. But the shameful Germany media said Chinese government used propaganda to fan Han's hatred against Uygurs.
If it was police crackdown that made so large a casualty of ‘peaceful protesters’, where are the pictures? Videos? So far, has any single picture be provided by western media or separatist to prove the bloody crackdown?

On Youtube. in response to a video titled 新疆万人抗议 呼吁国际关注 (Thousands protesting in Xinjiang, call for international attention), ahuich said

放你妈的狗屁!有计划的镇压!
维吾尔人屠杀了154人,重伤800人,是冲突,是示威。武警前 来维持秩序,就是有计划的镇压

Bullshit well-panned crackdown!
That Uygurs killed 154 and hurt 800 is only conflict and protest. But armed police to restore order is well-planned crackdown!

Dugles commented:

如果政府机关枪扫射了。拿我做梦都偷着笑。可怜的中国政府,什么 事都不做也照样被人扣屎盆子。既然这样,为什么不痛痛快快的干呢 !!!

If the government fired machine guns, I would laugh in my dream. But the poor government, even if it did nothing it will still be condemned. If so, why not just do it?

On New York Times, a series of pictures showing the riot is also criticized as catering to stereotypes and distorting facts.
This picture by Nir Elias/Reuters, which shows a man lying on the bed with the caption ‘Uighurs injured at a hospital in the city during a media tour by the authorities on Monday.’, is ridiculed by Chin:

是啊,这照片明明是里面的名字明明是汉人,到了注解的时候变成维族了

The name tag shows the man is obviously a HAN Chinese. But in the caption, he becomes a Uygurs.

walala said:

构图的idea就是: 先拍军警, 再拍维族, 拍伤者/血之类, 也放个维族在照片里. 总之
要旨是暗示军警打维族.

The idea of making pictures is: first armed police, then Uygurs, then injured people blooding, and a few Uygurs. Anyway, it is meant to imply that police beat Uygurs.

Radio Free Asia is also criticized for mistakenly citing a picutre of Shishou incident for Xinjiang riot. What is interesting is that, Rebiya Kadeer, the woman alleged by CCP to be the head of the riot, showed exactly this picture in her interview to depict the situation in Urumqi. Relative information can been at the bottom of this page in EastSouthWestNorth.

The journalists’ unscheduled confrontation with a large crowd of Uygurs women, who were wailing for their missing families arrested by authority, was also thought to be suspicious. The protesting women were featured by several influential western newspapers.

The journalist of Wenhui Newspaper wrote about what happened at the time:

在成功吸引众多记者的注意后,这些维族妇女又分成几群,对记者、特别是外国记者,声泪俱下地用维语哭喊。她们当中,每几个人裡便会有一名懂汉语的维族妇女负责用中文作现场翻译,这让记者们很容易地明白其哭诉的主要内容是:她们的丈夫、儿子或父亲,昨晚被警察抓走了、打死了。但当被问及到底有多少人昨晚被抓或死亡时,这些维族妇女却又不断变换「口径」:最初向外媒记者说有100人,之后又改口说300人,最后又称有上千人。

记者注意到,在一些中国记者用普通话向这些妇女提问时,她们会用中文回答说听不懂,但面对外国记者的镜头,她们马上用流利的汉语大声哭诉,并不断有人晕倒。如果发现外国记者没注意到这些「细节」,还会有人主动上前,拉外国记者们去拍。

After attracting the attention, the Uygurs women divided into a few groups, wailling in Uygurs to reporters, particularly those foreigners. Among them, there was one women in each group that translated their words into Chinese so that jourmalists understand what they were talking about easily, that is, their husbands, sons, or fathers were taken away or beaten to death last night. But when being asked how many were dead or arrested, they changed the number all the time: first it is 100, then 300, and finally over 1000.

I saw that when Chinese journalists interviewd them in CHinese, they would say ‘I don't understand Chinese’. But in front of foreign cameras, they would whine in fluent Chinese, and people fainted. If no foreign reporters found out the ‘details’, there were people walking up to get have the scenes filmed.

24 comments

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  • subjectivelistener

    BOB, GOOD JOB.

    If GlobalvoicesOnline has more reporters like you, this website is going to be a huge success.

    To kill civilians on the street for no reason is 100% equal to 911 Twin-tower attack. It is so sad that a lot of people, especially those simply dislike China or Chinese government.

    This is simply a Chinese version of 911.

    People should not die on the street for no reason. Period.

  • zntab

    China got to wake up. These Uyghurs are using the same ‘Arab Intifada’ tactic they used against Israel to draw international sympathy. And the international media will always show as biased a report as possible to bash China. They will portray the perpetrators as victims, esp. after each conflict, they will line up their women and children and do the wailing cries act to show their sorrow. China got to be mean and have to be MAD in order to bring some ‘respect’. Be MAD, arm the non-Uyghurs civilians with arms to protect themselves and shoot those countries who are supporting them a few nukes and they will know China is not punching bag! Wake up sissy Hu Jintao!

  • cerebus

    These commentators would do well to stop underestimating our intelligence. For every one news source reporting the above, there’s ten others reporting the facts as they are known. I suspect some commentators can’t understand the subtelties of English enough to realise most of the news sources that I’ve seen takes pains to explain the above speculations and also cast doubt on various aspects of the narrative.

    As someones said: People would cheerfully swallow a big lie and choke on a little fib.

    • Matsuo

      quote:
      As someones said: People would cheerfully swallow a big lie and choke on a little fib.
      end of quote.

      It serves for everyone doesn’t it?

      Aren’t we all looking for answers?

  • cerebus

    Beware, though: reducing this to a simple 9/11 terrorist attack scenario ignores any and all authentic grievances Uyghurs might have and effectively criminalizes a whole ethnicity. Trying to understand the reasons doesn’t equate to condoning what happened. Reduction to “they simply hate China” moves you further away from a solution to China’s minority issues, and closer to radicalizing a whole swath of the Chinese population. Surely you can see the danger in casting the suspicion of terrorism on each and every Uyghur and Tibetan. Effectively declaring war on your own people. Not so cool.

  • "Free" \= "Objective"

    Kudos to Bob. So many morons (on Twitter at least) think/thought that the 100+ deaths resulted from Chinese security forces gunning down protestors.

  • Bert

    I am not saying any of this is good or fine (these murders are horrible). Poor China for the past 60 years she lived, and still lives, in a constant lie in the name of harmony but now when they want “the truth” about what goes on in their nation to be spread to the world she gets no justice. Can you have it both ways?

  • Think Ming!

    I don’t understand the obsession with comparing this event to 911.

    Sounds like a violent riot to me.

    And yes, ethnic violence is often used to settle other scores – jealousies between neighbors etc.

    Oh. . .

    And what about the Han in Shaoguan who murdered innocent Uighurs? Were they also “terrorists”?

  • Mike S.

    Concerning the use of the Shishou pictures I don’t think it has been done one purpose, as thousands of pictures of Chinese Army in Urumqi are available on the web (including Chinese website).

    There is another false picture case, the one of an accident in Hangzhou few weeks earlier which shows two adults and a children on lying on the floor. This pictures was displayed on riot coverage, but also on Chinese official website.

    So one false pictures on thousands doesn’t proove any biais I think.

  • Willy

    Rebiya Kadeer the fake photo controversy just show her criteria of verify a news is very low. yet western media often imply her word is more reliable than those from Chinese side. yes, you can say it’s not biased too.
    however, if you google :”rebiya kadeer error photo”, you can’t find any wester mainstream media report this news, except Al Jazeera itself. you know this is important for reader to judge the credibility of Rebiya Kadeer’s word. What’s more, readers are interested in reading news about politician making a fool of themselvse.
    western media has no reason not to tell this story to their reader, unless they try to deliberately cover it up. and we know western media mention Kadeer repeatly even after the “photo error controversy”, they have many chance to tell their readers that, but they didn’t.
    Mike S. am i right?

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