Armed Chinese troops have flooded Urumchi, the capital of East Turkestan (Chinese: Xinjiang) following days of violent unrest. The situation remains incredibly tense and Chinese president Hu Jintao has vowed to "restore order" and "severely punish" those involved in the unrest, after he was rushed back to China yesterday from the G-8 meeting in Italy.

We fear that, as in Tibet last year, China's efforts to restore order will result in a prolonged military crackdown against the Uyghurs. Already, Chinese authorities have arrested more than 1,400 Uyghurs, blocked phone lines and the internet, and launched a propaganda campaign to portray the Uyghurs as the sole perpetrators of the violence. 

On Sunday, thousands of Uyghurs peacefully marched in the streets of Urumchi to protest the Chinese authorities' inaction amid the beating deaths of two Uyghur men at a toy factory in southern China. Chinese armed police responded to the protest in Urumchi with a heavy hand, and a riot ensued in which more than a hundred people were reportedly killed. Armed Chinese citizens have since taken to the streets to seek revenge, escalating the violence and chaos. 

To avoid the negative international news coverage that followed the media blackout in Tibet last year, Chinese officials have allowed foreign journalists into Urumchi but have tried to tightly control their movement and censor their coverage. Despite these efforts, on Tuesday hundreds of Uyghur women and children burst into the streets in front of the journalists, weeping and pleading for the release of those detained. Watch the moving footage. 

Sign a petition calling on the Chinese authorities to stop the crackdown on the Uyghur people and to allow an independent investigation into the situation in Urumchi. 

This tragic turn of events clearly shows that China's policies in East Turkestan, as in Tibet, have been a colossal failure. Uyghurs have rejected Chinese rule since the invasion of their homeland in 1949, and continue to struggle for their basic rights and freedoms. The systematic suppression of the Uyghurs' religion, culture, and unique identity – as well as the flooding of East Turkestan with millions of Chinese settlers – have led to deep-seated resentment and desperation amongst the Uyghur people. 

Instead of admitting its own failure to address the long-standing grievances of the Uyghur people, the Chinese government is blaming the violence on exiled Uyghur leader Rebiya Kadeer, just as it blamed the Dalai Lama for the widespread protests in Tibet. Rebiya Kadeer has spoken out to tell the true story of her people's suffering under Chinese rule. 

Please sign the petition and support her call for an open and independent inquiry into the unrest and for an end to the violent suppression of her people.

Source: Tendor, Lhadon, Kate, Heather, Chand et al at Students for a Free Tibet