* This post will be updated as I hear more news. I’m not in Ürümqi myself so all I write is alleged by friends that I am currently in touch with. // Newswire services have started picking up on the story and the situation seems to have quieted down for now. It’s past midnight in Ürümqi, I won’t continue to post new information here. The New Dominion also has a good digest of information.
Protests and rioting of Uyghurs targetting Hans are taking place in Ürümqi – I speculate that this may also be happening elsewhere in Xinjiang. This is also what I’ve just heard from contacts in Ürümqi. Especially the south of Xinjiang seems to be affected.
I’ve heard from friends that there have been blasts and lots of black smoke in residency compounds. Further news seems to indicate that the army has stepped in. Friends have reportedly heard gunfire.
Riots seems to concentrate on Renmin Guangchang (People’s Square), Zhongshan lu, Nanmen, Erdaoqiao (Jiefang nanlu) and Yan’an lu.
Mobile phone coverage is down in Ürümqi. This has been confirmed by a friend.
(The picture posted here earlier was not from Ürümqi, but from the recent riots in Shaoguan, Guangdong)
There are currently lots of useful media to be found here.
Several videos have leaked out onto the internet. (The latter has been taken down.)
Twitter is a useful tool, news seems to gather in the #urumqi and #xinjiang channels.
Taken from Twitter:
“Urumqi witness: 100s of riot police/soldiers in APCs, trucks, buses have blocked off main streets, rounded up Uighur…”
“Xinjiang” and “Urumqi” forums on Baidu shut down
An internet crackdown seems likely and is allegedly already underway.
Are these planned riots, or did they break out quasi-coincidentally? It’s been alleged that they are related to the recent riots between Han and Uyghur people, and the killing of two Uyghur men, in Guangdong province.
These stories and images put a cryptic message I received about two hours ago in a very different light indeed. My own feeling is that these riots weren’t completely off the cuff but probably picked up momentum as time went by.
See also:
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Apparently there’s a curfew in place at the moment. More details and an update can be found here: http://www.farwestchina.com/2009/07/xinjiang-crippled-by-urumqi-riots.html
i’m going back, anyway. nothing could stop it~~ waiting to see ya
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