聚焦河南中牟县械斗事件

　　[本报讯]河南省中牟县日前有汉族和回族居民爆发冲突，官方证实有7人死亡，42人受伤，18人被捕，大批公安武警继续在当地多个村庄，维持秩序。在爆发冲突现场附近一间清真寺的负责人说，当局下令除非有紧急事故，否则区内所有人不准离开。
　　新华社称，冲突是由一宗交通事故引起，消息指有暴徒用木棍袭击，又放火烧毁多间房屋，当地要实施戒严。但有消息称，事件起因是3名回族人驾车，不满一名17岁汉族青年挡路，下车殴打该名青年，从而触发冲突，附近村落400多名回族人也到场加入。
　　美国《纽约时报》昨天报道称，冲突中多达150人死亡；河南的回教徒组织也说有多人死亡。不过当时河南省官员说，没听过事件中有人死亡，但证实有多人受伤。而保安厅官员指事件是国家机密，未有结论前，不会评论事件。

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《纽约时报》报道原文——

Martial Law Declared as Nearly 150 Die in Clashes in Central China
By JOSEPH KAHN

Published: November 1, 2004

BEIJING, Oct. 31 – Ethnic clashes between majority
Han Chinese and Hui Muslims left almost 150
people dead and forced the authorities to declare
martial law in a section of Henan Province in
central China, journalists and witnesses in the
region said Sunday.

The fighting flared Friday and continued into the
weekend after a Hui taxi driver’s car hit and
killed a 6-year-old Han girl, prompting
recriminations between different ethnic groups in
neighboring villages, the journalists and
witnesses said. One individual briefed on the
incident by the police said 148 people had been
killed, including 18 police officers sent to
quell the violence.

The Chinese news media have reported nothing
about unrest in Henan. But a news blackout would
not be unusual, because propaganda authorities
routinely suppress information about ethnic
tensions.

Though most Chinese belong to the dominant Han
ethnicity, the country has 55 other ethnic
groups, including several Muslim minorities and
others with ties to Tibet, Southeast Asia, Korea
and Mongolia.

Hui Muslims, scattered in several provinces in
the central and western parts of the country, are
relatively well integrated into Chinese society
and not generally considered a threat to
stability.

But outbreaks of Hui unrest were not uncommon in
the 1980’s, and tensions can bubble to the
surface after even minor provocations. Many Hui
areas remain impoverished despite rapid economic
growth in China’s urban and coastal regions, and
some members of minority groups say the
Han-dominated government does little to steer
prosperity to them.

The road accident on Friday set off large-scale
fighting after relatives, friends and fellow
villagers of the girl who was killed, most of
them Han, traveled to the mostly Hui village of
the taxi driver to demand compensation. The rival
villagers failed to settle their dispute, which
quickly grew to involve thousands of people in
Zhongmou County between the cities of Zhengzhou
and Kaifeng, according to two accounts of the
incident.

The local police failed to contain the unrest and
authorities deployed the paramilitary People’s
Armed Police to restore order. Martial law was
declared over the weekend, people in the area
said, adding that the situation had since
stabilized.

One person briefed on the clashes said the
authorities might have been particularly alarmed
after the police stopped a 17-truck convoy
carrying Hui men to the area from other counties
and provinces as it passed through Qi County,
near Zhongmou. Blockades were set up on major
roads in the area, and some bus service was
halted.

That suggests that word of the violence may have
spread through a network of Hui and perhaps other
Muslim groups and that mutual support among them
is relatively strong. But details were sketchy
and difficult to confirm.

A police officer who answered the telephone in
the Zhongmou County public security office on
Sunday night declined to provide any information
on the matter.

China’s countryside and second-tier cities are
rife with unrest among peasants and workers
complaining about corruption, unpaid wages and
other issues. Violent protests, once extremely
rare, occur frequently.

Last week, rioters set fire to police cars and
looted government offices in Wanzhou, in
Chongqing municipality in southwest China, after
an argument between several people set off a riot
involving as many as 10,000 people, residents and
Western news agencies reported.

Chris Buckley contributed reporting from Beijing
for this article.

新华社报道——

河南中牟县一起村民纠纷械斗事件被有效控制

　　新华社郑州１１月１日电　据郑州市人民政府新闻办公室介绍，日前郑州市中牟县发生的一起因治安纠纷引起的村民械斗事件，经多方工作，已得到有效控制。民众情绪基本稳定，社会秩序恢复正常。
　　１０月２７日１６时４０分左右，中牟县狼城岗镇南仁村村民吕某与该镇南韦滩村村民刘某驾车相遇，因互不相让发生斗殴。随后，吕某召集数人赶到刘某家，将刘某及其家人打伤，进而引发两村村民聚集对峙。２８日，两村村民发生械斗，多人受伤，其中１人因伤势过重当场死亡，２人抢救无效于次日在医院死亡。２９日至３０日，双方村民又先后发生械斗，后被有效控制。
　　事件发生后，当地政府迅速采取措施，规劝民众，救治伤员。目前，受伤人员已全部送往医院治疗，其中１９名痊愈出院。
　　整个事件过程中因各种原因造成７人死亡，４２人受伤。几起命案已全部侦破，１８名犯罪嫌疑人已被抓捕归案。