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Chinese authorities warn spectators off Xinjiang torch relay

Authorities in Xinjiang are telling people who want to watch the Olympic torch as it passes through the area to stay at home and tune into the TV instead.

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

The steps are a measure of the sensitivity which surrounds Xinjiang, which is home to 8 million Muslim Uighurs, some of whom Beijing blames for a series of attacks in the name of 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 Chinese Communist Party boss of the region’s sports administration, Li Guangming, as saying.

“The government expects tens of thousands of people will shout encouragement on the streets who have come in groups with their work units,” Li said.

The torch will be paraded through Urumqi today before heading to the mainly Uighur city of Kashgar, not far from the Pakistan and Afghanistan frontier.

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

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 behavior that was similarly banned, including not taking pets along to look at the spectacle or setting off fireworks.

Foreign reporters covering the event have likewise been warned to behave in the event of a protest along or near the route, euphemistically referred to as a “sudden incident.”

“If foreign reporters cover a sudden incident, they will be subject to site safety management instructions and ... should follow the advice of security personnel on the spot,” a handbook reads, without elaborating.

Dilxat Raxit, spokesman for the exiled World Uyghur Congress, said China was using the Olympics as an excuse to further crack down on his people.

“Uighurs are still living in a culture of fear, facing persecution, marginalization and assimilation that erode the very core of cultural identity, religious belief and economic rights of Uighurs,” he said in an e-mailed statement.

Meanwhile, the People’s Daily reported yesterday that Beijing has appointed a one of its top terrorism experts as a vice public security minister in anticipation of Olympic-related threats.

Yang Xuanning has extensive experience in central government bodies dedicated to neutralizing government critics and perceived opponents in the restive western regions and managing China’s often cloudy international image, the newspaper said.

Beijing has called terrorism the single biggest threat to the Games.
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