Chinese police shot at Uyghur people in Xinjiang on Aug. 8 during the Muslim Eid celebration, killing at least four and injuring over 20, including a four-year-old shot in the stomach. Witnesses recently divulged more details about the killings.
While Uyghurs prepared for the Eid Al-Fitr, a festival that marks the end of Ramadan, a month of fasting and praying practiced by Muslims around the world, local Xinjiang authorities banned all religious activity. Officials called in over 20 armed police at 1 a.m. on Aug. 8 to monitor any infractions on the ban in the area, leading to a four hour standoff with over 1,000 locals.
Failing to disperse the crowd, police began to shoot at them. A 27-year-old man fell into argument with police and was accused of “inciting the crowd” and shot in the head.
A witness told Radio Free Asia that a four-year-old was shot in the stomach, and a 40-year-old mother looking for her son died from bullets in her arm and leg.
The authorities’ broke into homes a day earlier and arresting Uyghurs inside, to keep them from “engaging in illegal religion,” said Dilshat Reshit, a spokesman for World Uighur Congress, cited by Sound of Hope Radio Network, a Chinese-language independent broadcaster.
More security forces are on their way to Xinjiang, according to regime mouthpiece Global Times.
Translation by Hsin-Yi Lin.
