Police lockdown as Olympic torch lands in Xinjiang

China's sensitive Xinjiang region, which is home to the ethnic-minority Uighur people, is in security lockdown – yep, the Olympic torch has arrived.

The Xinjiang leg of the torch relay began in the region's capital, Urumqi, on Tuesday, followed by a stop in the Silk Road city of Kashgar today (that's Wednesday). Tomorrow (Thursday) the torch is off to the Xinjiang cities of Shihezi and Changji.

In Urumqi, Reuters reported that only people picked by the government were allowed to watch the relay – everyone else was told to stay home and watch it on TV. On top of that foreign reporters were banned from talking to anyone actually watching the event.

" … Shops were shut ahead of the start-off ceremony as small, organised groups of Uighurs, wearing traditional clothes, waved Chinese and Olympic flags under a bright, clear sky …"

China's Olympics

AFP reported despite the fanfare some of the Uighur people they talked to were bemused by the event.

" … "What does it have to do with us? That is China's Olympics. We don't care," a shop owner named Azatjan said dismissively before the start, as his daughter urged him to be quiet.

" …Uighur exiles and residents told AFP that Chinese authorities had detained thousands of Uighurs, and confiscated the passports of many others, in recent months." …"

Ethnic regions

The flame's trip through China's troubled ethnic minority regions of Xinjiang – in western China – and Tibet are considered the most sensitive in its journey around Mainland China.

The Xinjiang leg of the relay was brought forward, it wasn’t suppose to arrive in the region until next week. The torch is yet to visit Tibet, the date had been secret though it is now expected there for a one-day stay this Saturday.

The mainly Muslim Uighurs have been the target of systematic human rights violations by authorities, including imprisonment, arbitrary and incommunicado detention, violence and killings since the 1980s. They have faced severe restrictions on their religious freedom and their social and cultural rights.

Recently, China – which took over the area in 1949 and later renamed it the Xinjiang Uighur Autonomous Region – has exploited the international "war on terror" to suppress the Uighurs, labeling them terrorists, separatists and religious extremists.

Terror plots

This year authorities claim they have cracked at least two Xinjiang-based terror plots. One plot involved an attempt to bring down a Beijing-bound plane and the other was to kidnap foreigners and carry out suicide attacks at the Games.

In Amnesty International's 2008 Report found that over the past year non-violent expressions of Uighur cultural identity continued to be criminalised and Uighur people were the only known group in China to be executed for political crimes, such as "separatist activities".

Authorities continued to purse their policy of large-scale Han Chinese migration to the region to address alleged labour shortages. At the same time reportedly more than 200,000 Uighur women and girls were sent to work in factories in eastern China – often coerced by local authorities and under harsh conditions with low pay.

Uighur leader

Former prisoner of conscience Rebiya Kadeer is considered the mother of the Uighur people. She now lives in exile in the United States and campaigns around the world highlighting the plight of the Uighurs.

The Nobel Peace Prize nominee - who spent six years in a Chinese prison for allegedly revealing state secrets – visited Australia for the first time in February this year. You can check out the profile we put together during her visit.