Day three in Xinjiang: It's a riot

By Dominic Swire

Wednesday 20 August 2009

I was wondering exactly how the subject of the Xinjiang riots would be dealt with during our trip to the region. Would the violence that killed hundreds just weeks ago be a taboo subject, or would we be shown the effects of the troubles and how the local government is attempting to improve relations between the different ethnicities?

Burnt out cars are all that remain in this former second hand car  market where the Xinjiang riots began. Photo taken Wednesday 20  August, 2009.[Photo:CRIENGLISH.com]

My questions were answered Tuesday when much of the day was focused on the disturbances. First we were driven for about half an hour out of central Urumqi into a predominantly Uygur neighborhood to view the location where the riots originated. This was a second hand car market - but there is no market there now. All that remains is an empty parking lot with dozens of burn out cars inside. This seemed a great opportunity for some eye-catching photos, but no sooner had we got out of our bus than an armed guard came running over to speak with one of our leaders. Five minutes later we were back in the bus and heading into town.