Uyghur accounts cast doubt on Chinese report of Hotan clash

For immediate release
July 18, 2011, 12:15 pm EST
Contact: Uyghur American Association +1 (202) 478 1920

Chinese official media and Western news organizations have reported that at least four people have died in a clash in the city of Hotan, in the southern part of East Turkestan. The Uyghur American Association (UAA) urges the international community to view Chinese state media reports on the incident with extreme skepticism. According to the official Xinhua news agency, “thugs” forced their way into a police station, where they took hostages and engaged in a gunfight that resulted in at least four dead.

However, according to accounts from the World Uyghur Congress, the shooting took place not at a police station, but in Hotan’s main bazaar, when more than 100 local Uyghurs peacefully demonstrated against illegal seizures of land and the forcible disappearances of relatives by Chinese security forces during unrest in 2009. World Uyghur Congress spokesman Dilxat Raxit said that according to sources inside East Turkestan, police opened fire on the demonstrators, leading to a clash between demonstrators and police.

UAA unequivocally condemns acts of violence. UAA urges Chinese officials to allow international media and observers to freely and independently investigate the incident in Hotan.

See also:

• China police station attack leaves several dead in Xinjiang
• State media: 4 die in violence in China’s far west