David Whitehouse analyzes the upheaval shaking Western China.
Socialist Worker, July 9, 2009
Uighur women protesters challenge Chinese riot police during demonstrations in western Xinjiang province (Peter Parks | AFP)
LONG-SIMMERING grievances of China’s Muslim Uighur minority boiled over on June 6 after Chinese police attacked a peaceful demonstration in Urumqi, the capital of China’s vast western province of Xinjiang.
By the end of the evening, 158 people had been killed and 800 injured, according to Chinese officials. Official sources indicated that ethnic Chinese individuals and businesses owned by members of China’s ethnic Han majority were the main victims in the riots, but days later, officials still refused to give an ethnic breakdown of the dead or say how many had been killed by police.
Following the riot, security forces put the cities of Xinjiang under lockdown and held at least 1,500 in detention amid ominous reports of retaliatory violence by mobs of Han Chinese–who now form the majority in most of the province’s cities.
Peace and Justice Post 
Muslim reaction to China unrest mostly muted
July 14, 2009Ethnic violence in China draws muted response from many Muslim nations
JOSEF FEDERMAN
AP News
Antiwar Newswire, Jul 13, 2009 12:33 EST
China’s crackdown on its Muslim Uighur minority has drawn a muted response from many Muslim countries that may be wary of damaging lucrative trade ties with Beijing or attracting attention to their own attitudes toward political dissent.
The non-Arab countries of Iran and Turkey have been among the few to criticize China. Iran is busy dealing with its own unrest following a disputed presidential election, while Turkey has ethnic ties to China’s Uighur minority.
But throughout much of the Middle East and the Arab world, the violence in China has generated little reaction.
Continued >>
Share this:
Tags:Chinese crackdown, Muslim countries, Muslim Uighur minority, protrests in Turkey, Recep Tayyip Erdogan
Posted in China, Commentary, Human rights, Muslims, Uncategorized | Leave a Comment »