First 'terrorist' suspects arrested over Tiananmen Square attack
Beijing (
AsiaNews) - Chinese authorities have arrested "some suspects" believed to
have been involved in the crash and subsequent explosion of an SUV in Tiananmen
Square , the heart of Beijing. The explosion, defined by police for the first
time as "a terrorist attack", killed 5 people, including a Chinese man
from Guangdong and a Philippine doctor touring the capital, wounding at least
38. The
arrests, announced on CCTV (China Central Television), occurred 10 hours after
the incident.
According
to a police statement, seven of wanted persons come from the autonomous region
of Xinjiang , home to the Uyghur minority, Turkish-speaking Muslims , who denounce
a strict linguistic , cultural and religious repression by the Chinese central
government .
The
eighth is reportedly Han (ethnic majority in China ) and comes from the Sichuan
province in the southwest of the country, but is resident in Xinjiang. The age of the suspects range
from 21 to 70 years. Investigators
are also looking for five vehicles with license plate from Xinjiang , including
a motorcycle : the police have ordered mechanics and auto-repair shops to
report "every car with these details". Check
points have also been set up at airports, with passengers travelling to Urumqi
- the provincial capital - being questioned for hours by the security forces .
The
World Uyghur Congress , an organization that brings together the ethnic diaspora
led by Rebiya Kadeer , call for "calm and transparency" during the
investigation . Kadeer,
who was deputy to the Chinese people's National Assembly for years and is now
in exile, added : "I fear now more than ever for the fate of my people .
Beijing will not hesitate to use this tragedy to crush Xinjiang even more"
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20/08/2010
