2014 Yarkand violence

2014 Yarkand violence
Part of the Xinjiang conflict
Location38°23′27″N 77°13′24″E / 38.3909°N 77.2232°E / 38.3909; 77.2232
Yarkand County, Xinjiang, China
Date28 July 2014
TargetCivilians, police
Deaths96
Injured13

Violence erupted on 28 July 2014 in Yarkand County (officially spelled Yarkant) of Kashgar Prefecture, Xinjiang, China, and lasted for several days, as Chinese police quelled the local unrest. The official death toll listed 96 fatalities: 59 alleged attackers and 37 bystanders (35 Han and 2 Uyghurs). The World Uyghur Congress claimed 2,000 people died, while the Hong Kong–based Apple Daily gave an estimate of 3,000 to 5,000 dead, citing unnamed sources.

The incident

On 2 August 2014, Chinese authorities reported that on 28 July 2014, in Yarkand County, there was an "organized, premeditated, well-planned, and vicious ... terrorist incident, organized by a gang with ties to an overseas movement (i.e. the East Turkestan Islamic Movement or ETIM, officially known as the Turkistan Islamic Party or TIP) which attacked local police stations and government offices".[1][2][3][4]

Independent media as well as the World Uyghur Congress (WUC) based on interviews with several residents reported that the incident started with a protest march following an extrajudicial killing of a Uyghur family of five during house to house searches in Bashkent Township (also known as Beshkent or Huangdi), triggered by reports of illegal prayer gatherings.[3][5][6][4] The protests were reported as peaceful at first, but escalated due to Chinese authorities' use of excessive force. Local residents said in an Agence France-Presse report that in the nearby Elishku Township (Elishqu Village) about 500 people, including some refugees from Bashkent Township, armed with knives, axes and other farming tools were marching through the streets on 28 July, when they were attacked by a group of military police armed with assault rifles. Mahmouti, a local resident, heard the police yell "back off" to the crowd, followed by continuous gunfire, and then intermittent gunfire for about an hour. Yusup, another local farmer, said that none of the people who had gone to the demonstration had returned, and he estimated that about 1,000 people went missing. Further fatalities occurred during house to house searches that followed over several days and were reported in four villages in the region (those villages included Erik, Hangdi, and Dongbag, or No. 14, 15 and 16 in the township), although the reports differ on whether most fatalities occurred on the first day or in subsequent days.[7][3]

The official casualty toll listed 96 dead, among them 59 alleged attackers and 37 bystanders (35 Han and 2 Uyghurs).[3][8] Apple Daily reported that sources close to military intelligence claimed the violence in Yarkand County was a massacre in which between 3,000 and 5,000 people from four villages were killed, with no survivors.[9] The exiled president of the WUC claimed that more than 2,000 people died.[3][10][7]

Aftermath

Investigation into the events has been made difficult due to the Chinese government's denial of it and censorship of independent and social media. Foreign journalists who attempted to investigate this incident were denied access, and later reported being unable to find unintimidated locals willing to talk to them. Internet and mobile access in the region was severely restricted for an unspecified length of time after the incident. Activists in China who provided information about it to international organizations have been arrested and sentenced for revealing "state secrets".[1][3][4][11][12] Authorities officially blamed Nuramat Sawut as the ringleader of the attacks, accusing him of having close links to the TIP.[13]

In response to the violence, WUC representative Dilxat Raxit spoke out against the Chinese government's policies in Xinjiang, stating, "If Beijing does not change its policy of extreme repression, this could lead to even more clashes".[14]

In 2016, the WUC called the incident "the deadliest episode [in the region] since the unrest in Urumqi in July 2009".[5]

In 2018, Apple Daily reported that several involved officials had been detained on accusations of bribery.[9]

See also

References

  1. ^ a b "一名维吾尔人因提到新疆屠杀被逮捕" [Uyghur arrested for mentioning massacre in Xinjiang]. Radio France Internationale (in Chinese). 11 August 2014. Archived from the original on 12 February 2023. Retrieved 28 September 2020.
  2. ^ "新疆莎车暴恐案致37名民众遇害 59名暴徒被击毙" [37 people killed, 59 thugs shot dead] (in Chinese). Sina新聞中心. Tianshannet. 3 August 2014. Archived from the original on 27 May 2021. Retrieved 28 September 2020.
  3. ^ a b c d e f "法新社：2014年莎车暴力事件死伤人数或远超官方数据" [Agence France-Presse: Death toll in Yarkand violence in 2014 may far exceed official figures] (in Chinese). Deutsche Welle. 法新社. 29 April 2015. Archived from the original on 28 September 2020. Retrieved 28 September 2020.
  4. ^ a b c Demick, Barbara (8 August 2014). "Deadly clash in China: An ambush by Uighurs or a government massacre?". Los Angeles Times. Archived from the original on 15 September 2022. Retrieved 15 September 2022.
  5. ^ a b "East Turkestan: Anniversary of Yarkand Massacre Marked by Uyghur Community amid Chinese Silence". UNPO. 29 July 2016. Archived from the original on 18 August 2021. Retrieved 28 September 2020.
  6. ^ "PRESS RELEASE: WUC MOURNS THE VICTIMS OF THE YARKAND MASSACRE ON THE 6TH ANNIVERSARY". World Uyghur Congress. 28 July 2020. Archived from the original on 13 September 2020. Retrieved 28 September 2020.
  7. ^ a b "'At Least 2,000 Uyghurs Killed' in Yarkand Violence: Exile Leader". Radio Free Asia. Archived from the original on 18 November 2020. Retrieved 15 September 2022.
  8. ^ "37 civilians and 59 'terrorists' died in Xinjiang attack, China says". South China Morning Post. Retrieved 9 January 2023.
  9. ^ a b "【37人被捕】新疆莎車縣縣委常委、公安局長涉賄" [[37 arrests] Member of the Standing Committee of the County Party Committee and Chief of Public Security of Shache County, Xinjiang, involved in bribery]. Apple Daily. 25 January 2018. Archived from the original on 21 June 2021.
  10. ^ Smith Finley, Joanne (3 July 2021). "Why Scholars and Activists Increasingly Fear a Uyghur Genocide in Xinjiang". Journal of Genocide Research. 23 (3): 348–370. doi:10.1080/14623528.2020.1848109. ISSN 1462-3528. S2CID 228884439. during what exiles have called the Yarkand Massacre of 2014, in which between 1000 and 3000 Uyghurs were allegedly killed by security forces
  11. ^ "China Now Says Almost 100 Were Killed in Xinjiang Violence". Time. Archived from the original on 1 September 2022. Retrieved 15 September 2022.
  12. ^ "Rare Visit To Town At Centre Of Massacre Claims". Sky News. Archived from the original on 15 September 2022. Retrieved 15 September 2022.
  13. ^ "Xinjiang Conflict 2014: July 28 Attacks Deadly To Almost 100 Newly Detailed By China". International Business Times. Archived from the original on 9 January 2023. Retrieved 9 January 2023.
  14. ^ "Almost 100 killed during attacks in China's Xinjiang last week". Reuters. Archived from the original on 22 April 2022. Retrieved 9 January 2023.
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is available under Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 unless otherwise noted. Additional terms may apply for the media files.