Web users condemn rioters in July 5 Xinjiang riots
- Source: Global Times
- [17:24 July 08 2009]
- Comments
By Liu Chang
Global Times web users mostly condemned those who incited violence in the Xinjiang riots that erupted July 5, leaving 156 dead and over a thousand injured.
“I condemn those who killed innocent people to realize their goal to split Xinjiang from China,” commented a web user. “Their motives are evil, as well as their deeds. And so far they haven't had the guts to take the responsibility for the massacre. They are cowards.”
In an online poll conducted on huanqiu.com, 96.7 percent of the participants said the government should seriously punish the rioters. A web user nicknamed “Southern Chinese” wrote on the website’s forum that “to tolerate the terrorist activities in Xinjiang is to give up our rights for living.”
In fact, the Chinese netizens were expressing their indignation towards the rioters and sympathize with the victims in the “7.5” Xinjiang Riot not only in public spaces and forums, but also on personal blogs and even instant messaging nicknames.
“Rebiya Kadeer, why do you kill the innocent?” asked the msn nickname of Li Jian, a Chinese netizen in Beijing, referring to Kadeer, a Uyghur dissident now living in exile in the US. He told the Global Times that “Rebiya’s deed is nothing different from the terrorists.”
Bryan Wang, a Singaporean businessman in Beijing, has also changed his msn nickname to “Pray for victims in Xinjiang”. Wang said, “I think it is a tragedy not only for the Han people, but also for the Uygurs.”
But the opinions are divided on what approaches the government should adopt to tackle the Xinjiang riots.
A Global Times web user suggested that the right approach is “to peace not to force”, and another one commented that “peace is precious”. But some others see the matter in an extreme way.
“Goodabc1236” said on a post on the huanqiu.com forum that the government should “act more strongly”, because “peace has proved to be of no use after the 3.14 and 7.5 unrests”. A Chinese netizen named “gentle knife” also responded in an online discussion on the Xinjiang riots that the government should use “violence for violent”, or else, the rioters would not learn their lesson. Another netizen named “objective understanding” said “Stop the condemnations. Act eye for an eye, blood for blood.”
It is interesting to note when netizens discuss or debate what actions the government should take, the naming of races is rarely mentioned. There are almost no use of the words “Han” or “Uygurs” in the discussions. Most of the netizens refer to the rioters as “separatists” or “followers of Rebiya”. Just as a netizen named “tao0705” said on the huanqiu.com forum, “Everyone is responsible for attacking the terrorist activities that destroy our peaceful life.”