Video surveillance footage: beaten to death by Uighurs

Team Observers — Thu, 10 Sep 2009 09:32:00 +0200

Three surveillance videos from last July’s riots in China’s Uighur province have recently resurfaced on the Net. The violent footage shows a Han Chinese beaten to death by a mob of Uighurs. Why are these dated videos suddenly appearing online?

The scene was filmed by hospital surveillance cameras in the Xinjiang capital of Urumqi on July 5. That week, ethnic riots left 197 people dead, according to state media.

After the bloodshed, Chinese media were quick to broadcast footage of torched Chinese stores and injured Han Chinese (the main ethnic group in the country), blanking out images of the brutal police repression against Uighur protestors.

Nearly two months after the clashes, the situation remains very tense in Urumqi. The three videos, that show different moments of the same mob scene, were posted for the first time on YouTube "xjwlmq" in August. The buzz surrounding them only truly started on September 4, when they were posted on Liveleak the day Han protests broke out in Urumqi. Our Observers wonder whether Chinese authorities are not behind the buzz’s timing: the footage offers a perfect justification for Han anger and violence.

Warning: these images may be upsetting.

The attack took place in front of Urumqi’s largest hospital. The YouTuber adds that the medical staff from the hospital didn’t dare intervene for fear of being attacked themselves.

Xinjiang riots: official version v Internet version

Team Observers — Mon, 06 Jul 2009 17:35:19 +0200

140 people have been reported killed in clashes between Chinese police and protesters from the Uighur Muslim ethnic minority in the north-western region of Xinjang yesterday.

Like each time this kind of unrest occurs in the country, two versions have emerged: the state television shows only images of Han victims, while on the Internet the story is one of a bloody crackdown against the Uighur people.

The initial death count, released by the Chinese state news agency on Sunday, counted only three dead — all of whom were Han. Alongside this information, the state media played images of Uighur people burning cars and the Hans with bloody faces. On 6 July, the authorities came up with quite another number: 140 dead and 816 injured.

Images: Boxun News. On 5 July in Urumqi.