- blurb
The July 2009 Ürümqi riots were a series of violent riots over several days that broke out on 5 July 2009 in Ürümqi, the capital city of the Xinjiang, China. Protests on the first day involving at least 1,000 Uyghurs escalated into violent attacks. Officials said that a total of 197 people died, with 1,721 others injured and considerable damage to property; Uyghur groups say the death toll is higher than officially disclosed. Human Rights Watch documented numerous cases of arrests and disappearances in the wake of the riots.
Rioting began when the police confronted the march calling for a full investigation into the Shaoguan incident, a brawl in southern China several days earlier in which two Uyghurs had been killed. However, observers disagree on what caused the protests to become violent. The Chinese central government alleges that the riots themselves were planned from abroad by the World Uyghur Congress and its leader Rebiya Kadeer, while Kadeer denied fomenting the violence in her struggle for her people's right to self-determination. Uyghur groups claim that the escalation was caused by the police's use of excessive force. Chinese media coverage of the Ürümqi riots was extensive. (more...)Character count: 1205 (limit:1,200 / tool)
- image possibilities
- File:Ürümqi riots video.ogv (best option, but is video, would need compressed to 120px)
- any single screenshot from it
- File:Uyghurprotest DC 2.jpg, File:Uyghur protest Berlin, July 2009 3.jpg (not technically pictures of the riots themselves)
- points
- see WP:TFA/R#Calculating points:
- Timing: 1 point (first anniversary)
- Contributor history: 1 point (some of us have no TFAs)
- Main page representation: TBD. 1937 Social Credit backbenchers' revolt (May 7) is the only thing so far that might be relevant
- total: 2 (so far)