Terrorism Can’t Defeat Urumqi

The July 5 riot in Urumqi, Xinjiang, brought a lot of pain to this city, as well the whole Xinjiang and China. While blaming the terrorists and splittists who should be responsible for this incident, China is proving to the world that “we can not be defeated”.

The Xinjiang July 5 riot caused the blames of the peace-loving people in the world on the terrorism and splittism.

Retrospection of the Riot

At about 6:00 pm, July 5, masses of people began to gather in the People’s Square of Urumqi, Xinjiang.

According to the introduction of the Commanding Center of the Urumqi Public Security Bureau, early at the 1:00 of July 5, there was an alarm that some people emanated information about illegal assembly on the Internet, calling on people to join in illegal assemblies in the People’s Square at 19:00. At three o’clock, the Commanding Center received the call from the Public Security Bureau of Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps, saying that the same information could also be seen in its governance area. The Public Security Bureau immediately sent policemen to the People’s Square to prevent those accidents happening.

At 20:00, the people getting together in the People’s Square began their riot. Thousands of thugs smashed and burned vehicles and stores in Urumqi; they also attacked people, which resulted in dozens of innocent people’s death. The government of Xinjiang sent armed policemen and special arms to go to the sites to quench the riots, protect the innocent people and capture the thugs. Till the dawn of July 6, the incident was almost appeased and the policemen began to search for and arrest the criminals who led this riot and arranged the afterward defense.

At 5 o’clock of July 5, Nur Bekri, Chairman of Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region gave out a speech on the conflict between the Xinjiang migrant workers and local workers on June 26 in Shaoguan, Guangdong and the Xinjiang July 5 riot. He pointed out that the terrorists, splittists and extremists outside China made use of this ordinary public security case in Shaoguan to instigate the people to go up a riot on July 5 in Urumqi, which seriously breached the national unity, as well as the harmonious and stable social situation.

On July 8, State Council committee member Meng Jianzhu, entrusted by the Chinese central government, came to Urumqi to visit and comfort the innocent people injured in the riot, as well as the policemen and soldiers in the frontline of fighting for the state interests. Meng also mourned for the victims falling death to the riot and comforted their relatives.

The Xinjiang July 5 riot affected the daily life of ordinary people in Urumqi. In order to satisfy people’s demand for daily life and production, the Urumqi government, with the support of Xinjinag autonomous government as well as the Chinese central government, took many measures to guarantee the supply of food, water and the other living goods. By July 20, all the infrastructure in this city had been put into operation and functioned quite normally. The citizens’ daily lives had also been in peace. 

On July 8, Jerla Isamudin, Mayor of Urumqi held a press release and said that the incomplete statistics showed that the riot has caused 156 deaths and 1080 injuries by July 6; more than 260 vehicles were burnt down or smashed, eleven of which were police cars; 209 stores and 2 storied houses were destroyed; the total area which was burnt reached 56,850 square meters. The policemen had detained and interrogated more than 1,000 criminals taking part in the riot by the midnight of July 6.

Recover from the Chaos

According to Jerla Isamudin, the government of Urumqi immediately began to associate the different functional departments to take measures after the appeasement of the riot, trying every means to guarantee the supply of the electric power, gas and water as well as the daily necessities.

Two days later, the supply of water, electrical power, gas was recovered. The TV signal and broadcast were also available at the same time. The buses and taxis could be seen in each corner of this city except for the traffic control areas. Meanwhile, the enterprises which stopped their production due to the riot also recovered to the normal situation. The social production and people’s lives in Urumqi went back to well beings in a quite short time.

In order to make sure that the people in Urumqi can have fresh vegetables and fruits after the riot, the government transferred 25 trucks of vegetables from the neighboring cities on July 7, only one day after the occurrence of the riot. Those vegetables were immediately sent to the open fairs and supermarkets of the whole city and the prices were the same as before.

It was known that the supermarkets, shopping malls, open fairs and gas stations in Urumqi are gradually re-opened to the public. People could buy as many things as before in these places. The market supply has been coming to stability. Some restaurants also began to have customers.

Relieve the Pain

The Chinese government attached great importance to the comfort for the injured and the dead in the riot. According to the introduction of Jerla Isamudin, the Urumqi government has already drafted the Methods of Compensating and Comforting the Innocent People Falling Death or Injury to the July 5 Riot to give certain money to the relatives of innocent people who died in the riot. Now the government is funding to collecting the pension for the relatives of the dead people.

It was estimated that more than 100 million yuan (USD 14.64 million) is needed for the compensation. The financial department of Urumqi has already collected a certain amount of money to deal with the problems arising from the riot. Those who suffered great loss of assets in the riot can receive the full support from the government to recover their businesses as quickly as possible.

According to the report from People.com.cn, the central government will compensate 200 thousand yuan (USD 29.3 thousand) for each innocent dead people’s family. In addition, the Xinjiang-based “National Unity & Mutual-aid Fund” will also give each dead people’s family 200 thousand yuan (USD 29.3 thousand) as the pension.

On July 18, Nur Bekri said to the journalists: “We set up the ‘National Unity & Mutual-aid Fund’ to give the victims of the riot more compensation in cash. Apart from the 200-thousand-yuan pension, the charges of treatment and nursing of the injured will all be assumed by the government. We also plan to support the businessmen who suffered financial loss in the riot to recover their business. A certain amount of money will be given to each businessman based on checking. We have also sent out a group of psychologists to help the victims get rid of the pain in their hearts and regain the confidence of living.”

It is known that the “National Unity & Mutual-aid Fund” had received donations accumulated to 219.94 million yuan (USD 32.2 million) by July 18.

Moreover, the government officials of Urumqi began to visit and comfort the 1103 injured victims receiving treatment in the hospitals from the afternoon of July 7. The government also organized more than 100 medical staff to provide special treatment and nursing to the injured people. Another 300 people were organized to comfort the dead people’s families.

Jerla Isamudin said on July 10 that there were still nine burnt bodies that can not be identified who they were and the DNA identification was needed. The other 100 more bodies had been identified and their families had claimed to them. After all the identifications are done, the government will give the victims and their families the corresponding compensations.

Criminals Should Be Severely Punished

Li Zhi, Party Secretary of Urumqi, said that most of criminal suspects of July 5 riot have been arrested and interrogated. “Some of the thugs are the students who don’t know the truth and are agitated by the hatchers. If those young men didn’t take part in the serious smashing and burning, we will not send them into prison; instead, we will teach them the truth and educate them with the principle of national unity. However, those who hatched the riot or committed serious crimes and never regretted their illegal behaviors will be most seriously punished. We will try every means to maintain the dignity of constitution and laws, as well as the common interests of ordinary people.”

It is known that the government has already started the propaganda to let the ordinary people know the truth of the July 5 riot.