Mongolian herders marching toward the Banner
Government
On the morning of May 23, 2011, hundreds of
Mongolian herders from Right Ujumchin Banner of Southern (Inner)
Mongolia took to the streets in the Banner capital (equivalent to
the county level of government) to protest against the Chinese
miners¡¯ brutal killing of a Mongolian herder and the destruction of
Mongolian herders¡¯ grazing land. Hundreds more herders from three
sums (a sum is an administrative unit one level below banner) of
Right Ujumchin Banner were blocked by armed police on their way
marching toward the Banner capital.
According to an email communication from the local Mongolian
community, three herders and one student were severely beaten in
front of the Banner Government building and taken away by the
police. Whereabouts and current condition of the four are still
unknown. Mongols who captured the protest and police brutality on
their cell phones or cameras had their devices confiscated.
With China¡¯s announcement that the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region
(IMAR) has become the ¡°energy base of China,¡± Chinese mining
companies and private miners poured into the Southern Mongolian
grasslands to open up hundreds of coal mines, forcibly displacing
the local herders, destroying their grazing land, and killing their
livestock.
Frustrated herders organized to block the Chinese mining trucks from
passing through their grazing land. On May 10, 2011, Mr. Mergen, one
of the organizers of the Mongolian herders of Right Ujumchin Banner,
was brutally killed by a Chinese truck driver while he was blocking
a caravan of hundreds of Chinese coal haulers from passing through
his grazing land on May 10, 2011.
Reportedly, instead of bringing the murderer and those who violated
the rights of the herders to justice in accordance with the law, the
Banner Government tried to appease the family members of Mergen and
local herders by giving a large sum of cash to Mergen¡¯s widowed wife
and mother. The Chinese authorities¡¯ bribery-like handling of the
case not only failed to calm the Mongolian herders but further
angered them, inciting them to take to the streets to demand their
rights and dignity be respected.
Fearing possible unrest among the herders, the local government
mobilized more than 300 armed police to prevent any kind of protest
or gathering.
¡°Hotels were searched at midnight by the Public Security Bureau
personnel for herders possibly hiding to join any protest; Mongolian
students were locked up in their schools, and campuses are heavily
guarded by police,¡± a Mongolian blogger wrote, describing the
tension between the Mongolians and the local authorities.
According to another blog article, on May 21, all principals of the
schools in Right Ujumchin Banner were called to an urgent meeting by
the Educational Bureau and were told to have a complete control over
their teachers and students to prevent them from joining any
Internet discussions about Mergen¡¯s case.
Despite this tight control over the Internet, Mongolian bloggers are
expressing their grievances and rallying the Southern Mongolians to
stage a mass protest to demand their rights. A call-on paper is
widely circulated through the Internet among the Southern Mongolians
to organize a large-scale demonstration at the Xinhua Square in
front of the IMAR Government and the Inner Mongolia TV Station in
the regional capital Hohhot City to protest the government¡¯s failure
to redress Mergen¡¯s case and the Inner Mongolia TV¡¯s intentional
inaction in covering the case. The proposed demonstration date is
May 30, 2011, and the expected participants are the thousands of
Mongolian students from all universities, colleges and other
professional schools.
Another online statement called upon all Southern Mongolians to take
five minutes on May 30 to mourn Mergen¡¯s death and mark the day as
¡°Herders¡¯ Rights Day¡± every year. The paper also urged the Chinese
government to erect a memorial on the Ujumchin Grassland to honor
Mergen as a ¡°Southern Mongolian National Hero and Martyr¡± who
sacrificed his life to defend the Mongol land from Chinese
intruders.
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Chinese armed policy blocking the Mongolian protesters
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Streets blocked by Chinese armed police in Right Ujumchin Banner
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Mongolian demonstrators beaten up by Chinese police
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Police arresting Mongolian protesters
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Mongolian
herders beaten up and taken away by police
