AP, Istanbul :
A decade after deadly riots tore through his hometown in northwestern China, Kamilane Abudushalamu still vividly recalls the violence that turned him into an exile.
Abudushalamu was 9 and living in Urumqi, the capital of the Xinjiang region that is home to the predominantly Muslim Uighur ethnic minority, which has long claimed persecution at the hands of the Han Chinese majority. That sense of disenfranchisement came to a violent head on July 5, 2009, when Uighurs attacked Han civilians on the streets after police broke up an initially peaceful protest, prompting clashes that killed an estimated 200 people.
Hundreds of rioters smashed storefronts, overturned cars and busses and sent some ablaze. The fury followed reports that two Uighur migrant workers were killed by Han Chinese co-workers at a factory in southern China, crystalizing long-held resentment over religious, linguistic and ethnic prejudices.
That night, Abudushalamu’s father pulled him into an office to wait out the worst of the unrest. When they stepped outside a few days later, the streets were eerily empty, Abudushalamu said. Then the police arrived and started shooting.
“Two maybe SWAT team (members) came after me and shot at me,” said Abudushalamu, now 19 and living in Turkey, where many Uighurs have found a home based on linguistic, cultural and religious similarities. “
A decade after deadly riots tore through his hometown in northwestern China, Kamilane Abudushalamu still vividly recalls the violence that turned him into an exile.
Abudushalamu was 9 and living in Urumqi, the capital of the Xinjiang region that is home to the predominantly Muslim Uighur ethnic minority, which has long claimed persecution at the hands of the Han Chinese majority. That sense of disenfranchisement came to a violent head on July 5, 2009, when Uighurs attacked Han civilians on the streets after police broke up an initially peaceful protest, prompting clashes that killed an estimated 200 people.
Hundreds of rioters smashed storefronts, overturned cars and busses and sent some ablaze. The fury followed reports that two Uighur migrant workers were killed by Han Chinese co-workers at a factory in southern China, crystalizing long-held resentment over religious, linguistic and ethnic prejudices.
That night, Abudushalamu’s father pulled him into an office to wait out the worst of the unrest. When they stepped outside a few days later, the streets were eerily empty, Abudushalamu said. Then the police arrived and started shooting.
“Two maybe SWAT team (members) came after me and shot at me,” said Abudushalamu, now 19 and living in Turkey, where many Uighurs have found a home based on linguistic, cultural and religious similarities. “
