A series of violent riots over several days broke out on 5 July 2009 in Ürümqi, the capital city of the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region, in northwestern China. The first day's rioting, which involved at least 1,000 Uyghurs, began as a protest, but escalated into violent attacks that mainly targeted Han people. According to Chinese state media, a total of 197 people died, most of whom were Han people or non-Muslim minorities, with 1,721 others injured and many vehicles and buildings destroyed.
Rioting began following the Shaoguan incident, where false accusations of rape of a Han woman by Uyghur men led to a brawl between ethnic Han and Uyghur factory workers in Shaoguan, resulting in the deaths of two Uyghurs who were both from Xinjiang. The Chinese government stated that the riots were planned from abroad by the World Uyghur Congress (WUC) accused its leader Rebiya Kadeer of masterminding the violence.
When the riots began, telephone and internet connections within Xinjiang were cut off. In the weeks that followed, official sources reported that over 1,000 people were arrested and detained; Uyghur-run mosques were temporarily closed. Many Uyghurs reportedly disappeared during wide-scale police sweeps in the days following the riots. The communication limitations and armed police presence remained in place as of January 2010. By November 2009, over 400 individuals faced criminal charges for their actions during the riots. Nine were executed in November 2009. According to China News Service, they were executed for crimes such as murder or arson. By February 2010, at least 26 had received death sentences.
Background
Xinjiang is a large central-Asian region within the People's Republic of China comprising numerous ethnic groups. Its two largest ethnic groups are the Uyghurs and Han, who make up 45 and 40 per cent of the population, respectively. Its heavily industrialised capital, Ürümqi, has a population of more than 2.3 million, about 75 per cent of whom are Han, 12.8 per cent are Uyghur, and 10 per cent are from other ethnic groups.
During the Qing Dynasty, the Qianlong Emperor had ordered the genocide of Dzungar tribe to punish their leader Amursana for rebelling against Qing rule. After the genocide of Dzungar people, the Qing empire had sponsored Han, Hui, Uyghur, Xibe, and Kazakh colonists in settling into the region, which resulted in a major regional demographic change, with 62 percent Uyghurs concentrated in the southern Xinjiang's Tarim Basin, and around 30 percent Han and Hui people in the north. Professor Stanley W. Toops noted that today's demographic situation is similar to that of the early Qing period in Xinjiang. At the start of the 19th century, 40 years after the Qing reconquest of the area, there were around 155,000 Han and Hui Chinese in Xinjiang and somewhat more than twice that number of Uyghurs. A census of Xinjiang under Qing rule in the early 19th century tabulated ethnic shares of the population as 30% Han and 60% Turkic, while it dramatically shifted to 6% Han and 75% Uyghur in the 1953 census. However, the recorded population, which had increased to 18.64 million people, was 40.57% Han and 45.21% Uyghur by 2000.
Since the incorporation of the region into the People's Republic of China, there have been armed conflicts between the Chinese government and separatist groups, the latter receiving support from the Soviet Union during the Sino-Soviet split during the 1960s. Insurgency and hostilities increased following the Barin uprising and continued throughout the 1990s, marked by events such as the 1997 Ürümqi bus bombings and the Ghulja incident. The state-sponsored migration of Han from the 1950s to the 1970s and harsh responses to separatism have contributed to regional tensions. The conflict saw a resurgence since the 2000s marked by terror attacks and armed clashes. In 2008, there was a wave of attacks and incidents preceding the Olympic Games in Beijing.
According to Chinese government policy, Uyghurs are classified as a National Minority rather than an indigenous group—in other words, they are considered to be no more indigenous to Xinjiang than the Han, and have no special rights to the land under the law. Although the Chinese government's minority policy, which is based on affirmative action, has reinforced a Uyghur ethnic identity that is distinct from the Han population, some scholars argue that Beijing unofficially favours a monolingual, monocultural model that is based on the majority. The authorities also crack down on any activity that appears to constitute separatism. These policies, in addition to long-standing cultural differences, have sometimes resulted in "resentments" between Uyghur and Han citizens. On one hand, as a result of Han immigration and government policies, Uyghurs' freedoms of religion and of movement are curtailed, while some Uyghurs argue that the government downplays their history and traditional culture. On the other hand, some Han citizens view Uyghurs as benefiting from special treatment, such as preferential admission to universities and exemption from the one-child policy, and as "harbouring separatist aspirations".
The riots took place several days after a violent incident in Shaoguan, Guangdong, where many migrant workers are employed as part of a government programme to alleviate labour shortages. According to state media, a disgruntled former worker disseminated rumours in late June that two Han women had been raped by six Uyghur men. Overnight on 25–26 June, tensions at the Guangdong factory led to a full-blown ethnic brawl between Uyghur and Han workers, during which two Uyghurs were killed. Official sources later said they found no evidence to support the rape allegation. While the official Xinhua News Agency reported that the person responsible for spreading the rumours had been arrested, Uyghurs alleged that the authorities had failed to protect the Uyghur workers, or to arrest any of the Han people involved in the brawl.
Videos of the brawl were circulated online by Uyghur exile groups, alongside claims that the death toll was underreported.
A street protest in Ürümqi on 5 July was organised online to voice their discontent and to demand a full government investigation.
At some point the demonstration became violent. The Xinjiang Corps of the People's Armed Police was deployed after reports of vandalism and arson came in. Captain Wan Jingang of the PAP Ürümqi Detachment was killed when rocks were thrown at the officers. A government statement called the riots a "pre-empted, organised violent crime ... instigated and directed from abroad, and carried out by outlaws." Nur Bekri, chairman of the Xinjiang regional government, said on 6 July that overseas separatist forces had taken advantage of the Shaoguan incident "to instigate the unrest [of 5 July] and undermine ethnic unity and social stability".
The government asserted that the World Uyghur Congress (WUC), an international organisation of exiled Uyghur groups led by Rebiya Kadeer, had instigated the riots over the internet, supporting its charge with evidence of WUC knowledge and involvement in protest planning, including Kadeer's public speeches after the Tibetan unrest and phone recordings in which she had reportedly said that something would happen in Ürümqi. Chinese authorities accused a man who they alleged to be a key WUC member of inciting ethnic tensions by circulating a violent video, and urging Uyghurs, in an online forum, to "fight back [against Han Chinese] with violence". Nick Holdstock interviewed a Uyghur who told him that on 3 July, Rebiya "called on Uyghurs to protest", with the message spreading on discussion boards and messagaging apps, and that he received a picture message showing the exact place and time of demonstration.
China Daily asserted that the riots were organised to fuel separatism and to benefit Middle East terrorist organisations. Kadeer denied fomenting the violence, and argued that the Ürümqi protests and their descent into violence were triggered by heavy policing, discontent over Shaoguan and "years of Chinese repression", rather than by the intervention of separatists or terrorists. Uyghur exile groups claimed that violence erupted when police used excessive force to disperse the crowd.
All parties, then, agree that the protests were organised beforehand; the main points of contention are whether the violence was planned or spontaneous, and whether the underlying tensions reflect separatist inclinations or a desire for social justice.
Events
Initial demonstrations
Demonstrations began on 5 July at 5:00 pm with a protest in the Grand Bazaar, a prominent tourist site, and crowd reportedly gathering at the People's Square area. Official and eyewitness accounts reported that the demonstration involved about 1,000 Uyghurs; the WUC said approximately 10,000 protesters took part.
At 7:00 pm, protesters began throwing rocks at the police and attacking passersby. The government's official line was that the violence was premeditated and coordinated by Uyghur separatists abroad. The local public security bureau said it found evidence that many Uyghurs had travelled from other cities to gather for the riot, and that they had begun preparing weapons two or three days before the riot. The World Uyghur Congress quickly issued press releases saying that the police had used deadly force and killed "scores" of protesters. Kadeer has claimed that there were agents provocateurs among the crowds.
Escalation and spread
After the confrontation with police turned violent, rioters began hurling rocks, smashing vehicles, breaking into shops and attacking Han civilians. At least 1,000 Uyghurs were involved in the rioting when it began, and the number of rioters may have risen to as many as 3,000. Jane Macartney of The Times characterised the first day's rioting as consisting mainly of "Han stabbed by marauding gangs of [Uyghurs]"; a report in The Australian several months later suggested that religiously moderate Uyghurs may also have been attacked by rioters. Although the majority of rioters were Uyghur, not all Uyghurs were violent during the riots; there are accounts of Han and Uyghur civilians helping each other escape the violence and hide. About 1,000 police officers were dispatched; they used batons, live ammunition, tasers, tear gas and water hoses to disperse the rioters and set up roadblocks and posted armoured vehicles throughout the city.
During a press conference, Mayor Jirla Isamuddin said that at about 8:15 pm, some protesters started to fight and loot, overturned guardrails and smashed three buses before being dispersed. At 8:30 pm, violence escalated around South Jiefang Road and Longquan Street area, with rioters torching police patrol cars and attacking passers-by. Soon, between 700 and 800 people went from the People's Square to Daximen and Xiaoximen area, "fighting, smashing, looting, torching and killing" along the way. At 9:30 pm, the government received reports that three people had been killed and 26 injured, six of whom were police officers. Police reinforcements were dispatched to hotspots of Renmin Road, Nanmen, Tuanjie Road, Yan'An Road and South Xinhua Road. Police took control of the main roadways and commercial districts in the city at around 10 pm, but riots continued in side streets and alleyways, with Han civilians attacked and cars overturned or torched, according to the mayor. Police then formed small teams and "swept" the entire city for the next two days. A strict curfew was put in place; authorities imposed "comprehensive traffic control" from 9:00 pm on 7 July to 8:00 am 8 July "to avoid further chaos".
The official news agency, Xinhua, reported that police believed agitators were trying to organise more unrest in other areas in Xinjiang, such as Aksu and Yili Prefectures. Violent protests also sprang up in Kashgar, in southwestern Xinjiang, where the South China Morning Post reported many shops were closed, and the area around the mosque was sealed off by a People's Liberation Army platoon after confrontations.
Another clash was reported near the mosque on 7 July and an estimated 50 people were arrested. Up to 12,000 students at the Kashgar Teaching Institute were confined to campus after the 5 July riots, according to the Post. Many of the institute's students had apparently travelled to Ürümqi for the demonstrations there.
Casualties and damage
During the first hours of the rioting, state media only reported that three people had been killed. The number rose sharply, though, after the first night's rioting; at midday on 6 July, Xinhua announced that 129 people had died. In the following days the death toll reported by various government sources (including Xinhua and party officials) gradually grew, with the last official update on 18 July placing the tally at 197 dead and 1,721 injured. The World Uyghur Congress has claimed that the death toll was around 600.