CHINA: OLYMPICS - Security and crowd control mark Olympic torch relay in far-western Muslim city of Kashgar

Record ID: 329737

  • Title: CHINA: OLYMPICS - Security and crowd control mark Olympic torch relay in far-western Muslim city of Kashgar
  • Date: 19th June 2008
  • Summary: KASHGAR, XINJIANG AUTONOMOUS REGION, CHINA (JUNE 18, 2008) (REUTERS) DAWUTI AXIMU RUNS TOWARDS STAGE LINE OF CHANTING FLAGWAVERS, SECURITY GUARD (IN BLUE) STAND IN LINE FINAL TORCH BEARER DAWUTI AXIMU LIGHTING TORCH CAULDRON TO SIGNIFY THE END OF THE TORCH RELAY CROWD CHEERING AND WAVING FLAGS
  • Embargoed: 4th July 2008 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: China
  • Country: China
  • Topics: Sports
  • Reuters ID: LVAF0NSRMSDM2AYGA97ETZ1JJLYX
  • Story Text: Tight security and a carefully choreographed crowd mark the Olympic torch relay in the far-western Muslim city of Kashgar.
    The Olympic torch was paraded on Wednesday (June 18) through the sensitive former Silk Road city of Kashgar, home to ethnic-minority Muslim Uighurs, under the scrutiny of Chinese soldiers and choreographed cheering crowds.
    China has accused Uighur separatists in oil-rich Xinjiang of plotting attacks with al Qaeda's support to help achieve their goal of establishing an independent country called East Turkestan.
    The government banned all but carefully chosen members of the public, including Islamic leaders in head dresses and children in traditional attire, from the relay route and ordered everyone else to stay at home and watch on television.
    Shops were shut as small groups waved Chinese and Olympic flags under a bright, clear sky. Between the groups, the streets were deserted.
    Uighur children, some holding large flags, chanted "Go China, Go Olympics, Go Sichuan and Go Kashgar", the Sichuan mention referring to the devastating earthquake there in May.
    Everyone on the street wore a sticker with a number and the Olympic flame logo in an apparent security measure, as soldiers lined the route at every 30 metres (yards).
    Foreign media were only allowed to film the opening and closing ceremonies for the torch relay and were been banned from talking to anyone watching the torch along its route. This is despite China pledging complete media freedom when it applied to host the Olympics.
    China claims to have cracked at least two Xinjiang-based terror plots this year, one involving an attempt to bring down an airliner flying to Beijing and the other to kidnap foreigners and carry out suicide attacks at the Olympics.
    On Saturday (June 21), the Olympic flame is due to pass through Lhasa, the Tibetan capital where anti-Chinese protests broke out in March.
    The torch relay was meant to be a symbol of national unity and pride for China, but it was dogged by anti-government protests on its international leg after the clampdown in Lhasa and at home he authorities are at pains to ensure its smooth journey, especially in troubled minority areas such as Xinjiang.
    As in Tibet, many Uighurs resent the migration of Han Chinese to the region and government controls on their culture and religion.
    Foreign rights groups say the government has been carrying out a pre-Olympic crackdown in Xinjiang ahead of the Beijing Games, which open on August 8.
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