China's government has learned nothing from the bloody riots in 2009 – Xinjiang is like a powder keg

The Society for Threatened Peoples (STP) condemns the escalation of violence in north-western China. On Wednesday morning, 27 people got killed when a group of upset Uyghurs attacked a police station and an office of the Communist Party in Lukqun. "However, this tragic incident is not surprising – for China's authorities have learned nothing from the bloody riots in July 2009, when more than 200 Uyghurs and Han Chinese were killed in Urumchi," said the STP's Asia-consultant, Ulrich Delius, in Göttingen on Wednesday. "Instead of asking for the reasons for discontent among the Muslim minority, Beijing only reacts with further oppression and persecution. Therefore, the province of Xinjiang is like a powder keg." Raids, arbitrary arrests, unfair trials and the systematic repression of the freedom of religion, expression and assembly have created a climate of fear and violence.

The STP sharply criticized the official news agency Xinhua, which described the upset Uyghurs as a "knife wielding mob". Nine police officers, eight civilians and ten Uyghur attackers were killed in the incident. "With its biased media coverage, China's official media are fueling the hatred of the Han Chinese against the Uyghurs," said Delius. "Instead of giving objective reports on the tragic violence and its background, they focus on emotions and fears, again fueling the cycle of violence."

The STP recalls that 19 Uyghurs received prison sentences of up to six years just last week. The defendants had been accused of religious extremism, because they had downloaded information about human rights violations against Uyghurs from websites of foreign human rights organizations or distributed religious texts via the Internet.

In the south of the autonomous region of Xinjiang – which the Uyghurs call East Turkistan – 21 people had been killed during the serious unrests of April 2013. The state administration had sent out more security forces to the conflict region, but had publicly downplayed the fear of new violence at the same time. At the end of May 2013, the deputy governor of Xinjiang, Shi Dagang had still stated in interviews that the minority in Xinjiang would rather dance and sing than try to spread violence. "Regarding the escalating spiral of violence, the Governor's loss of his sense of reality is frightening," said Delius.