The
Eastern
Turkistan
Information
Center
report
07/02/97 - ARBITRARY ARRESTS AND DETENTIONS OF
THE UYGHURS DURING HONG KONG RETURN CEREMONIES
[ETIC, 7/2/97] Many Eastern Turkistanis have been arbitrarily detained
by police under different allegations in cities of Eastern Turkistan
and Chinese provinces before and during ceremonies of returning Hong
Kong to China. Only in two last days, about 1000 people were arrested
in China's provinces. The current situation in Eastern Turkistan is
reported as dangerously tense, and it is described by residents of
Eastern Turkistan as the worst during the communist Chinese rule
comparing it to the periods of vicious stalinist repressions and
terror. Everything indicates that the Chinese authorities extremely
worry on possibility of large scale uprisings and disturbances among
the Uyghurs, but their precautional measures amount in encreasing state
terror, repressions, and ideological brainwashing of the Uyghur
population of Eastern Turkistan. [Abdullah Pamir]