Alia | May 22nd, 2014 – 7:41 pm
What is the worst that could happen after a deadly terrorist attack? Eye-for-an-eye retaliations that counter killing with killing, which is exactly what’s brewing in China right now after yesterday’s blasts in Urumqi, capital of the country’s ethnic Xinjiang province with a dominant Muslim Uighur population.
Explosives were said to be hurled from two SUVs that ploughed into the city’s popular open morning market yesterday AM, killing 31 and leaving more than 90 injured.
It was the third terrorist attack targeted at civilians in or near the region since March. Just two weeks ago, on April 30, when Chinese president Xi Jinping was still touring the region, 3 people were killed and 79 injured after attackers used knives and detonated explosives at Urumqi’s south railway station. In March, 29 people were killed in a knife rampage by a group of Uighur terrorists at Kunming railway station. This is not yet counting the 3 Han officials being murdered during Xi’s visit.
Xi called Urumqi the “front line” in China’s battle against terrorism, and vowed to “make terrorists like rats scurrying across a street, with everybody shouting ‘beat them!” Well…the series of attacks make these terrorists look more like predators than rats, but “beat them” shouts are definitely coming.
What pushed many Chinese netizens to the edge is the fact that most of the dead and injured were powerless seniors who went to the morning market for the day’s foods, and the realization that the terrorists have shifted their target from government officials and police officers to civilians, on top of the evolution from knives to explosives.
Many Chinese netizens demand their government to counter terror with terror, calling for harsh retaliation, or even the use of collective punishment to arrest or execute families of the terrorists. Such calls are not unheard of before after attacks of similar nature occurred. What’s new this time is the number of people who actually agreed.
“Violent attacks targeted at innocent civilians are crimes against humanity. The only solution is to counter killing with killing. Mercy on terrorists is also against humanity.” Commented netizen 薛好大. Another netizen 三万上尉 was much more specific: “If the terrorists kill one of us, we should kill their entire families!”
Even those who weren’t as extreme seem to have changed their stance. One netizen 你本来就很美C commented: “There is no longer need for us to think of ways to turn terrorists into good people. All that we need to work on is to turn terrorists into dead people.” “In this particular case, I’m all for countering violence with violence, and countering killing with killing.” Another netizen 狐说八卦 commented.
Yesterday’s attack may mark a turning point for the Chinese government to shift from “maintaining stability” and “building a harmonious society” to “counter-terrorism.” And they will get support from the Chinese people. The only question is whether they are ready.
Minutes after the horrible news broke yesterday, censors started to work. News articles about the Urumqi blasts shared on China’s social media were left with no or only a dozen of comments while being shared hundreds of times. As of now, posts about the incident are still heavily censored. In a country where public discussions of terrorism are not allowed, talks about counter-terrorism is but a joke.
An eyewitness of the 4.30 railway station bomb attack pointed out: “I am a survivor of the railway bomb attack on April 30. All of my messages were censored, and they will continue to be censored in the future. What’s the use of condolence and condemnation? Our counter-terrorism policies are wrong from the very start.”
Morning market after blast
From http://offbeatchina.com/chinese-netizens-call-for-eye-for-an-eye-retaliation-after-deadly-blasts-in-urumqi