China deploys 3,000 special forces in restive city

2011-11-25 23:49:52 GMT+7 (ICT)

BEIJING (BNO NEWS) -- The Chinese government has transferred more than 3,000 special police forces to the restive city of Urumqi in the country's northwest, state-run media reported on Friday. It did not specify the reasons for the massive deployment.

Sources with the Urumqi Municipal Committee of the Communist Party of China (CPC) told the state-run Xinhua news agency that thousands of Special Weapons and Tactics (SWAT) officers will be assigned to the Public Security Bureau in Urumqi, the capital of Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region.

Xinhua said a regulatory body in the Public Security Bureau of Urumqi will be established to take charge of the overall management of the special police teams across the city. The report did not specify the reasons for the sudden deployment, but China Radio International said the officers would help to 'maintain stability' in the city.

Urumqi was the scene of violent clashes between Uighur Muslims and Han Chinese in July 2009, leaving at least 197 people killed and more than 1,700 others injured. The riots were the region's worst ethnic clashes in decades and the violence only stopped when a large number of troops were deployed in the remote western region.

Following the riots, China cut all communications from the region to the rest of the world, including international phone calls, text messaging, and the internet. Thousands of additional security forces have since been deployed and thousands of 'riot-proof' closed-circuit television cameras have been set up in public places in an attempt to discourage any violence or unrest.

Over eight million Uighurs live in the Central Asian region of Xinjiang. A large number of Uighur are reportedly unhappy about the large migrant Han Chinese settlers, saying that they are making their interests less important and disregarding their culture.

-- © BNO News All rights reserved 2011-11-25

Trying to keep a lid on protests - that's one of the main functions of Chinese officialdom. I'm surprised this story even got out at all, must have been some breach in their iron fisted suppression of non-flattering news. Urumqi is just one flashpoint area. Tibet is another - and there are yet others around China. It's like trying to keep a boiler from blowing by putting fingers on places where the metal is cracking. It's inevitable that the boiler will burst, and China will likely fracture in to a hundred fiefdoms, like it has often in the past. Xinghua for the Xinghuans, Tibet for the Tibetans, and Beijing for the Han. That's what will bring back a semblance of balance to that undemocratic country.