Unrest in China

[sev]

China riots: officials order closure of 200 mosques for Friday prayers - Telegraph

China riots: officials order closure of 200 mosques for Friday prayers
Chinese officials have ordered the doors of 200 mosques in Urumqi to be closed for Friday prayers in the wake of the race riots which led to the deaths of 156 people.

A crowd of over 1,000 local Uighur Muslims managed to force the doors of the main mosque to be opened, sparking fears of further violence.

Friday prayers are a focal point of the week for Urumqi's Uighur Muslims and the Chinese authorities imposed the ban in an attempt to deter any large emotional gatherings after a week of tension and violence.


Security teams circulated through the city's Muslim quarters and told worshippers to stay away from mosques this week and to worship next week instead.

"For the sake of public safety all of the mosques have told people that there will be no Friday prayers and that people should stay at home today and pray," said a government official at the Yang Hang mosque, the biggest mosque in the city with a capacity of around 3,000. A notice was pasted outside cancelling the prayers.

However, as midday approached, a small crowd of around 100 worshippers gathered outside the gold-domed mosque and a further 50 to 100 people made their way into the inner courtyard. "It's not necessary to close it because everyone who enters the mosque is a Muslim. It will be safe," said one female worshipper.

The crowd ignored demands from the Chinese police to disperse and demanded the right to prayer. As tensions rose, the news of a dispute outside the mosque drew a crowd of around 1,000. Eventually, the authorities relented and an abbreviated prayer ceremony, with no sermon, was permitted.

Riot police and security forces stood ready nearby, but after the prayers, the crowds dispersed without any incident. Uighurs generally practice a moderate form of Sunni Islam that was prevalent in Central Asia under Soviet rule, although more militant and austere forms of Islam have made inroads in recent decades.

A similar scene played out in front of the White mosque, one of the most popular places to worship in the mainly Uighur neighborhood of Er Dao Qiao. A Uighur policeman guarding the mosque said the authorities had backed down from a ban and "decided to open the mosque because so many people had gathered. We did not want an incident".

However, the majority of the city's mosques remained shut. One Uighur man, who declined to give his name out of fear for his safety, was sitting outside the Kungui mosque. "If I have to pray at home, then I will. But don't ask me my mood right now."

The last time that Friday prayers were banned in China was in 2003, during an outbreak of SARS, the respiratory disease. However, Uighurs in Xinjiang are subject to a number of restrictions on worship, including a ban on anyone under 18 attending a mosque. The government also controls the appointment of imams.

The situation in Urumqi is now significantly calmer and the security forces which had flooded the city, some of whom had been sent to reinforce Urumqi from cities as far away as Shanghai, took pains to keep a low profile. In Kashgar, the second-largest Uighur city, foreigners have been asked to leave for their own safety.

The violence in Urumqi began on Sunday when Uighurs clashed with police while protesting deaths of Uighur factory workers in a brawl in another part of the country. The crowd then scattered throughout Urumqi, attacking Han Chinese, burning cars and smashing windows. Riot police tried to restore order, and officials said 156 people were killed and more than 1,100 were injured.

Uyghur people - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The Uyghur (Uyghur: ئۇيغۇر; simplified Chinese: 维吾尔; traditional Chinese: 維吾爾; pinyin: Wéiwú'ěr), also spelled Uighur, are a Turkic ethnic group living in Eastern and Central Asia. Today Uyghurs live primarily in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region (also known by its controversial name Uyghurstan or East Turkistan) in the People's Republic of China. In English, the name of the ethnicity and its language is spelled variously as Uyghur, Uighur, Uygur and Uigur, with the preferred spelling being Uyghur. Many English speakers pronounce it as /ˈwiː.ɡər/ but the pronunciation /ujˈɡur/ is closer to native [ʔʊɪˈʁʊː].

Large diasporic communities of Uyghurs exist in the Central Asian countries of Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, and Uzbekistan. Smaller communities are found in Mongolia, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Russia and Taoyuan County of Hunan province in south-central Mainland China.[2] Uyghur neighborhoods can be found in major Chinese cities like Beijing and Shanghai.[3]

They are turkic ehtnic group, their religion is sunni mulsim...



bet another bunch of terrorists, funded by saudi arabia..

[Dalzi]

Every country that America doesn't like has to have those. The continuous attempts to crack the Chinese regime are so obvious; Falung Gong, Tibet riots...etc. You name it. And now these of course. The pattern is getting so lame...

[TripolySunni]

I Have a Japanese Freind Who was researching this and is interested in that part of the world and he told me that the Chinese government has killed more than 35+ Million Chinese muslims and that they have been desperatly trying to ethnically cleanse all muslims out of China.

We Say to the Uyghur the same thing we said to the Turkmanestan, The chechenian, The Bosnian, the Afghani, the Somaly and the Palestinian Muslims : لكم الله يا عباد الله

[Robin Hood]

Originally Posted by Dalzi

Every country that America doesn't like has to have those. The continuous attempts to crack the Chinese regime are so obvious; Falung Gong, Tibet riots...etc. You name it. And now these of course. The pattern is getting so lame...

I didn't know that China is a democracy that respects human rights.
Guess what, it was the US too who told Myanmar sell the int'l aid it received after it was hit by a cyclone.

[sev]

wow. I have all the lebanese channels on my tv apart from future tv + the future tv for akhbar..

but luckily i was searching for new channels on my dish and guess what i saw on future tv channel for akhbar??
REBIYA KADEER, president of world uyghur congress doing interview with them...


hehe, yet henchag and ramgavar are still allied with them...
they should be stripped from being armenian.... shame on u, ur allies supporting turkic peoples..

[TripolySunni]

I feel there is some Racism emanating from a few comments here.

[Sa3id Sale7]

Originally Posted by TripolySunni

I feel there is some Racism emanating from a few comments here.

[font="Arial"][size="5"]بكل تأكيد إنّ العنصرية تطغى في جمبيع أركان هذا المجتمع، سآتيكم بالأخبار السارة قريبا[[/b][/SIZ

[sev]

Turkish PM compares violence in China to genocide
Released : Friday, July 10, 2009 2:18 PM

ANKARA, Turkey-Turkey's prime minister on Friday compared ethnic violence in China's Xinjiang province to genocide, escalating criticism of Beijing following this week's killing of at least 156 people, including Turkic-speaking, Muslim Uighurs.

Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan's strong words came amid daily demonstrations in Turkey protesting the clashes in Xinjiang's capital of Urumqi between Han Chinese and minority Uighurs, who share ethnic and cultural bonds to Turks. Hundreds of Turks prayed for the victims and set Chinese flags on fire on Friday in protests in Ankara and Istanbul.

"These incidents in China are as if they are genocide," said Erdogan. "We ask the Chinese government not to remain a spectator to these incidents. There is clearly a savagery here."

The Chinese government has already imposed curfews and flooded the streets of Urumqi with security forces to avoid a repeat of the running street battles earlier in the week.

Turkey itself is extremely sensitive to the use of the term "genocide." Armenia says 1.5 million Armenians were slain by Ottoman Turks around the time of World War I in what Armenians and several other nations recognize as the first genocide of the 20th century. Turkey vehemently rejects the allegation, saying that the death toll was inflated and that Armenians died in civil unrest as the Ottoman Empire collapsed.

Erdogan, the leader of the Islamic-rooted government, has been urged by some Uighurs and opposition parties to speak up for Uighurs as he did for Palestinians during Israel's offensive against Gaza militants earlier this year.

In late January, Erdogan stormed off a stage he shared with Israeli President Shimon Peres at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, after telling Peres, "You kill people."

Turkey says it is concerned about the Chinese treatment of Uighurs. Some Uighurs favor independence or greater autonomy for Xinjiang province, which takes up one-sixth of China's land mass and borders eight Central Asian countries. The Han, China's ethnic majority, have lately been flooding into Xinjiang as the region becomes more developed.

Erdogan, however, stressed that Turkey respects China's territorial integrity and has no intention of interfering with that country's internal affairs.

And despite the country's vocal criticism of Beijing, Turkey's Foreign Ministry on Friday reaffirmed Turkey's commitment to develop ties with China in every field.

"Turkey gives importance to the fact that all ethnic and national groups be living in peace and prosperity," the Foreign Ministry said in a statement. "We expect China to provide the necessary environment of peace and security for Uighurs who constitute a bridge of friendship between China and Turkey."

The violence in Urumqi began Sunday when Uighurs clashed with police while protesting the deaths of Uighur factory workers in a brawl in another part of the country. The crowd then scattered throughout Urumqi, attacking Han Chinese, burning cars and smashing windows. Riot police tried to restore order, and officials said 156 people were killed and more than 1,100 were injured.

Calibre Macro*World

hahaha, turks speaking about genocide?? did they forget the real genocide of armenians lol?? and even their occupation of northern cyprus???...hahahah

[TripolySunni]

Originally Posted by sev

Calibre Macro*World

hahaha, turks speaking about genocide?? did they forget the real genocide of armenians lol?? and even their occupation of northern cyprus???...hahahah

Turkish Politicians say this to get points. since the turkish people have been protesting the events in china the polticians decided to benefit once more like they did when Israel Massacred Palestinians few months back.

[TripolySunni]

Originally Posted by Sa3id Sale7

[font="Arial"][size="5"]بكل تأكيد إنّ العنصرية تطغى في جمبيع أركان هذا المجتمع، سآتيكم بالأخبار السارة قريبا[[/b][/SIZ

Well it's understandable from "Armenians" although it was very funny how they linked the Turkish to those living in the far east and have never seen turkey in thier lives But what do you mean that you'll be getting us good news soon?