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West China city braces for deadly riot anniversary

Originallly published by Reuters,04 July 2010

By Emma Graham-Harrison

URUMQI China (Reuters) – The capital of China’s remote western region of Xinjiang feels like a city under siege, the day before it marks the first anniversary of ethnic rioting which killed around 200 people.

Armed police, some with helmets and shields, elbow through Urumqi’s crowded roadside restaurants, security cameras monitor buses and taxis, guards check the bags of visitors to markets and hotels, the city’s central square is closed for repairs and some shops are shuttered on quieter-than-usual streets.

A year ago ethnic tensions between Han Chinese and Uighur residents of the far-flung city exploded into the worst rioting China has seen in decades, and emotions are still high between the peoples caught up in days of mob violence, who live parallel but largely separate lives.

“Security is good now, but inside I am still very nervous. That feeling hasn’t gone,” said Han Chinese clothing vendor You Jia, who used to travel home past the Grand Bazaar, which was at the center of the violence.

“I haven’t been near the Bazaar in a year,” added the fashionable 36 year-old, waiting for business in a vast market selling everything from vegetables to underwear.

On July 5 last year, mobs of Uighurs — a Turkic-speaking people who have called Xinjiang home for centuries — attacked hundreds of Han Chinese after a peaceful demonstration turned nasty.

Uighur groups overseas say harsh policing, including the firing of live ammunition, provoked the violence. China says it was planned by overseas agitators seeking independence for the region, led by Rebiya Kadeer, once feted but now reviled by Beijing and in exile. She denies the accusations.

In the following days Uighurs were hunted by Han gangs seeking indiscriminate vengeance, and rights groups say they were also targeted by a harsh government crackdown.

“They have their scars, we have our scars. We mostly keep to ourselves. It’s not good to discuss that period,” said a young Uighur studying in Urumqi, one of the few willing to talk about the violence, who asked for anonymity fearing official reprisals.

The silence was in striking contrast with last year, when Uighurs were unusually open about their grievances.

TAKING NO CHANCES

Beijing has shown it is determined to keep a tight grip on simmering tensions in the energy-rich region, strategically located at the crossroads of Central Asia.

Last year’s violence caught China’s leaders by surprise, as did a second flare-up in September amid mass panic over dozens of alleged attacks with syringes, mostly attributed to Uighurs.

The regional Communist Party boss has since been replaced, state media report that the Urumqi security budget nearly doubled from last year, and ahead of the anniversary extra measures have been rolled out including thousands of new surveillance cameras.

But the deep-seated resentment that fueled much of last year’s violence has not been addressed.

Uighurs say they struggle to find jobs and resent strict controls on how they practice their religion, Islam.

“Things have got worse. We can hardly earn a living and can’t do business ourselves,” said one young Uighur chef, working in a restaurant owned by bosses from the Hui minority, another Muslim group now well assimilated into the Han majority.

Han Chinese are also angry, saying Uighurs are granted unfair perks because of their minority status, like being allowed to escape strict family planning laws that limit most urban residents to one child.

So despite the beefed up security, some shops have already been shuttered, traffic is low, and streets are quieter than on a usual weekend, locals say.

“Now it’s the anniversary, people are worried that it will start stirring up those feelings again. You can see the streets are quite empty, they are staying home just in case,” said an ethnic Hui grandmother selling drinks from a cart.

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