The Chinese Shame of a Fearful "Olympic Host" -- Chinese officials urge
Xinjiang residents to skip torch relay

Chinese officials urge Xinjiang residents to skip torch relay
Reuters
Published: June 16, 2008

URUMQI, China: The authorities in the troubled far-western Chinese
region of Xinjiang are telling people who want to watch the Olympic
torch as it passes through the area to stay at home and tune in to the
television instead.

Spectators, who in other parts of China have thronged streets to glimpse
the torch, were also banned from climbing trees or gathering on bridges
under which the flame will pass, state media said Monday.

The steps are a measure of the sensitivity that surrounds Xinjiang, an
oil-rich border region that is home to the Muslim Uighur people, some of
whom Beijing blames for attacks agitating for an independent state.

"Considering that too many people will cause a lack of safety, we are
recommending that everyone watches on the television from home," the
official Xinjiang Daily quoted the Communist Party chief of the region's
sports administration, Li Guangming, as saying.

The torch, whose progress around the world has been dogged by protests
against Chinese policies, will be paraded through Xinjiang's regional
capital Tuesday before heading to the mainly Uighur city of Kashi, not
far from the frontier with Pakistan and Afghanistan.

A three-day tour of Tibet was supposed to precede this leg but the
schedule was altered after a three-day suspension due to the earthquake
in Sichuan. A curtailed trip to the Himalayan region will now follow
after the torch leaves Xinjiang, organizers said.

Xinjiang is home to eight million Uighurs, many of whom resent the
growing presence and economic grip of the Han Chinese. The government
insists only a tiny minority support the separatists.

Other newspapers warned that "uncivilized behavior" would be
"appropriately dealt with."

"Do not shout slogans that damage the image of the nation or of the
city," The Urumqi Evening News said, outlining a long list of banned
behavior, including taking pets along or setting off fireworks.

China says it disrupted at least two terrorist plots based in Xinjiang
this year, one involving an attempt to blow up an aircraft flying to
Beijing and another to kidnap foreigners and carry out suicide attacks
during the Olympics.

http://www.iht.com/articles/2008/06/16/asia/torch.php