More than 200 arrested in crackdown on terrorist videos in Xinjiang
Swoops in last six weeks amid series of train station attacks
Police in Xinjiang have arrested more than 200 people in the last six weeks for “dissemination of violent or terrorist videos” amid a wave of train station attacks.
Police in the far western region, home to mainly Muslim Uygurs, detained 232 people who “have circulated videos promoting terrorism through the internet and on portable devices”, the state-run Global Times said.
Xinjiang’s regional government announced a ban in late March on downloading, saving or spreading “terror-related” videos online.
The ban includes video and audio materials “advocating violence and terrorism, religious extremism and separation of ethnic groups”, the newspaper said.
News of the arrests follows a series of violent incidents both inside and beyond Xinjiang which Chinese authorities have blamed on separatists from the area.
In April, assailants using knives and explosive devices struck at a rail station in the Xinjiang capital Urumqi, resulting in three deaths, including two attackers, and 79 wounded.