Mike Pouraryan
The Chinese Uighurs: On-Going Riots
Al Jazeera is reporting on the riots by the Chinese Uighurs minority. Uighurs are the minority muslims who live on the border with Russia and Afghanistan. It all began with a march to demand justice for two Chinese Uighur workers being killed by Ethnic Han Chinese.
Al Jazeera's Melissa Chan has reported that pockets of rioting still continues. The Government took a page out of the way Iran handled the situation. Twitter was shut down completely, cell phone was cut off and the police attacked in a forceful manner. The scenes coming out of China have been quite remarkable. China will make sure that that order is restored.
There was a lot of rancor when five Chinese Uighurs were sent to Bermuda by the Obama Adminstration. Britain was angry. But, now, hopefully some of the conservative community in the United States will at least understand that the Uighurs would probably have been shot if they were returned to China. What will happen now to these unfortunate souls? Will the Chinese Government truly emerge and do something differently? Time will only tell if they are as wise as they are deemed to be.
Al Jazeera's Melissa Chan is right now reporting that disturbances are indeed continuing. People are breaking through police lines. Han Chinese are continuing protests and walking past by her with clubs and knives. The possiblity for ethnic conflict is as rife as ever.
