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11-01-2004, 05:13 AM
MSNBC (http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/6377898/)
Deadly riot prompts martial law in Chinese town
At least 7 dead, more injured in ethnic clashThe Associated Press
Updated: 4:45 a.m. ET Nov. 1, 2004LANGCHENGGANG, China - Thousands of police on Monday were guarding a country road outside a village in central China where witnesses said rioting between hundreds of members of the Han ethnic majority and Hui Muslims killed at least seven people.
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Martial law was imposed in Langchenggang in Henan province after the violence erupted Friday, according to residents contacted by phone. They said groups of as many as 400-500 rioters fought with sticks and burned several houses.
Residents could not confirm a report by The New York Times that as many as 148 people had been killed.
Police lined the road beginning 6 miles from town, spaced every few feet on the dusty shoulder of the narrow two-lane road, clumped in groups or packed into buses. Cars were being stopped at checkpoints, but it wasn’t clear if any had been turned away.
Minivans with loudspeakers strapped to their roofs drove between buildings broadcasting appeals for calm and similar messages were printed on posters stuck to buildings. Local government and Communist Party officials visited homes telling people not to worry.
The cause of the violence wasn’t immediately clear.
The Times said it erupted after a Han girl was struck and killed by a Hui taxi driver. However, an accountant contacted at a factory in the town said it grew out of an incident Friday in which three Hui men beat up a 17-year-old Han boy who blocked their car on a street.
A group of Han men retaliated by beating the three Hui men, prompting a group of 30-40 Hui to come from a nearby town seeking revenge, said the accountant, who would give only his surname, Liu. He said that after that group was driven away, a group of 400-500 Hui arrived and full-scale violence began.
Martial law imposed
Liu said he saw several thousand police and soldiers on the streets of the town after martial law was imposed.
“A lot of people were carrying clubs to fight. They set fire to several houses,” said another Langchenggang resident surnamed Liu, who was no relation to the accountant. “Right now, there are lots of police. The local government is allowing local residents to move around but everyone is afraid of going out.”
Town, county and provincial officials refused to confirm whether the violence occurred.
Several residents said local officials had told them not to give information to reporters.
The town, about an hour’s drive from the major city of Zhengzhou, was still tense Monday, according to a man who said he lived one-half mile from the scene of the fighting.
“I still dare not leave the house,” said the man, who would give only his surname, Li. “To the west and east are Hui villages. So people are afraid to go outside.”
“Right now, the road to Langchenggang is under martial law,” said a resident who lives near the village boundary and refused to give his name.
Police were blocking vehicles carrying large numbers of people from entering the town, the man said.
While the police presence gave the area an aura of being under siege, there were few signs of unrest.
Shattered glass was scattered across the road in the adjacent village of Weitan. Villagers said the debris was left over from an altercation between soldiers and a group of men, but it wasn’t clear whether the men were Hui or Han.
Ethnic tensions
Hui are ethnic Chinese whose ancestors converted to Islam. Han Chinese make up more than 90 percent of China’s 1.3 billion people. The country has 55 officially recognized ethnic groups.
China suffers occasional tensions between ethnic groups, but the extent of any violent clashes is unclear because the communist government suppresses information about social conflict.
Ethnic tensions are aggravated in many parts of China’s poor countryside, home to some 800 million people, by disputes over rights to scarce farmland and control of lucrative government posts.
At least five Hui were shot and killed by police in December 2000 during protests in the eastern province of Shandong in December 2000. Truckloads of Hui had traveled to the area from neighboring provinces a show of support after a fight between local Hui and a Han butcher advertising “Muslim pork.” Muslim dietary laws forbid eating pork
Deadly riot prompts martial law in Chinese town
At least 7 dead, more injured in ethnic clashThe Associated Press
Updated: 4:45 a.m. ET Nov. 1, 2004LANGCHENGGANG, China - Thousands of police on Monday were guarding a country road outside a village in central China where witnesses said rioting between hundreds of members of the Han ethnic majority and Hui Muslims killed at least seven people.
advertisement
Martial law was imposed in Langchenggang in Henan province after the violence erupted Friday, according to residents contacted by phone. They said groups of as many as 400-500 rioters fought with sticks and burned several houses.
Residents could not confirm a report by The New York Times that as many as 148 people had been killed.
Police lined the road beginning 6 miles from town, spaced every few feet on the dusty shoulder of the narrow two-lane road, clumped in groups or packed into buses. Cars were being stopped at checkpoints, but it wasn’t clear if any had been turned away.
Minivans with loudspeakers strapped to their roofs drove between buildings broadcasting appeals for calm and similar messages were printed on posters stuck to buildings. Local government and Communist Party officials visited homes telling people not to worry.
The cause of the violence wasn’t immediately clear.
The Times said it erupted after a Han girl was struck and killed by a Hui taxi driver. However, an accountant contacted at a factory in the town said it grew out of an incident Friday in which three Hui men beat up a 17-year-old Han boy who blocked their car on a street.
A group of Han men retaliated by beating the three Hui men, prompting a group of 30-40 Hui to come from a nearby town seeking revenge, said the accountant, who would give only his surname, Liu. He said that after that group was driven away, a group of 400-500 Hui arrived and full-scale violence began.
Martial law imposed
Liu said he saw several thousand police and soldiers on the streets of the town after martial law was imposed.
“A lot of people were carrying clubs to fight. They set fire to several houses,” said another Langchenggang resident surnamed Liu, who was no relation to the accountant. “Right now, there are lots of police. The local government is allowing local residents to move around but everyone is afraid of going out.”
Town, county and provincial officials refused to confirm whether the violence occurred.
Several residents said local officials had told them not to give information to reporters.
The town, about an hour’s drive from the major city of Zhengzhou, was still tense Monday, according to a man who said he lived one-half mile from the scene of the fighting.
“I still dare not leave the house,” said the man, who would give only his surname, Li. “To the west and east are Hui villages. So people are afraid to go outside.”
“Right now, the road to Langchenggang is under martial law,” said a resident who lives near the village boundary and refused to give his name.
Police were blocking vehicles carrying large numbers of people from entering the town, the man said.
While the police presence gave the area an aura of being under siege, there were few signs of unrest.
Shattered glass was scattered across the road in the adjacent village of Weitan. Villagers said the debris was left over from an altercation between soldiers and a group of men, but it wasn’t clear whether the men were Hui or Han.
Ethnic tensions
Hui are ethnic Chinese whose ancestors converted to Islam. Han Chinese make up more than 90 percent of China’s 1.3 billion people. The country has 55 officially recognized ethnic groups.
China suffers occasional tensions between ethnic groups, but the extent of any violent clashes is unclear because the communist government suppresses information about social conflict.
Ethnic tensions are aggravated in many parts of China’s poor countryside, home to some 800 million people, by disputes over rights to scarce farmland and control of lucrative government posts.
At least five Hui were shot and killed by police in December 2000 during protests in the eastern province of Shandong in December 2000. Truckloads of Hui had traveled to the area from neighboring provinces a show of support after a fight between local Hui and a Han butcher advertising “Muslim pork.” Muslim dietary laws forbid eating pork