Uyghur protests interrupt China’s state-organized media tour
Just like the Chinese authorities blamed the Dalai Lama for last year’s Tibetan uprising, they are now blaming exiled Uyghur leader Rebiya Kadeer for the protests and violence in Urumchi. On July 6, Rebiya Kadeer made a statement condemning the Chinese government’s violent crackdown on the Uyghurs, in which she explained that she had no role in instigating or organizing the protests that have been taking place. Read her statement here.
In an effort to sway global public opinion against the Uyghurs, Beijing invited foreign journalits to Urumchi, “to know better about the riots”. But just like Tibetan monks interrupted the state-organized media tour last year in Lhasa and Labrang, Uyghurs made a surprise appearance and engaged in protests as the media took photos.
Read more in the New York Times News Blog: Uyghurs, like Tibetans, Ruin China’s State-Organized Media Tour.
Below are some of the media coverage on the protests, the violence, and China’s ongoing crackdown.
New York Times: In Latest Upheavel, China Applies New Strategy to Control Flow of Information
Financial Times: Xinjiang Unrest – The Oil and Gas Connection
Washington Post: New Ethnic Violence Flares in China
Al Jazeera: Video of Uyghur Women Protests
Click here to read Amnesty International’s report on Uighur identity under attack.
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Media tours in a country so desperate to control all media never work out very well…
The more groups which stand up to be counted, the weaker China’s elite look in the eyes of their own citizens. Even without the brutal crackdowns, the longer this goes on, the more web savvy Chinese people will be seeing the holes in their government’s armour. It’ll be interesting to see whether the government back down as they appear to have done a little here, and over internet censorship and the mining protests, or whether they continue to oppress these groups and speed up the ticking timebomb which China is becomming.