Uighur community protest over ethnic violence in China's Xinjiang

(12 Jul 2009)
1. Various of protesters marching holding Uighur flag
2. SOUNDBITE: (Japanese) Masashi Furukawa, Vox pop:
"I have friends there but I cannot contact them. I came here to pray for their safety."
3. SOUNDBITE: (Japanese) Hideki Nishimura, Vox pop:
"I hope that the Chinese will not employ military force but deal with the matter in a humane way."
4. Mid shot of the protesters marching holding Japanese and Uighur flags
STORYLINE:
Over 1,000 protesters marched through the Japanese capital of Tokyo on Sunday afternoon in solidarity with the Uighur minority in China, one week after ethnic fighting began, leaving 184 people dead and alarmed China's communist leaders.
The protesters marched through a Tokyo street holding Uighur flags and shouting "Free Uighur".
The violence broke out July 5 in the city of Urumqi following a protest against the June 26 deaths of Uighur factory workers in a brawl in southern China.
The crowd then scattered throughout Urumqi, attacking Han Chinese, burning cars and smashing windows.
More than 1,000 were also hurt in the violence.
The Chinese government on Saturday night issued an order to prohibit illegal assembly, marches and demonstrations in the western city.
The notice said the situation was "basically under control" but that there was "still sporadic illegal assemblies and demonstrations in some places," the official Xinhua news agency reported.
Armed paramilitary police were on guard on Sunday in People's Square, the site of the July 5 protest.
Some roads to the main market were still closed Sunday, and the market remained guarded by armed military police.
Thousands of Chinese troops have flooded into Urumqi in the past week to separate the feuding ethnic groups.
It was unclear as to whether communications had also been disrupted. But one man at the Tokyo protest said he had not been able to contact his friends by telephone.
Another protester said he hoped the Chinese would not be heavy handed.
"I hope that the Chinese will not employ military force but deal with the matter in a humane way," he said.
Chinese officials have yet to make public key details about the riots and what happened next, including how much force
police used to re-impose order.
Officials and Xinhua have not said whether all the victims were killed last Sunday or in later days, when vigilante mobs ran through the city with bricks, clubs and cleavers.
A senior Communist Party official vowed to execute those guilty of murder in the rioting.
The government believes the Uighurs (pronounced WEE-gers) should be grateful for Xinjiang's rapid economic development, which has brought new schools, highways, airports, railways, natural gas fields and oil wells in the sprawling, rugged Central Asian region.
But many of the Turkic-speaking Uighurs, with a population of 9 million (m) in Xinjiang, accuse the dominant Han ethnic group of discriminating against them and saving all the best jobs for themselves.
Many say the Communist Party is repressive and tries to snuff out their Islamic faith, language and culture.

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