The Uyghur problem

The Uyghur problem

Police car in Xinjiang. The police is everywhere in this Orwellian police state. Every 120 meters you'll find a swat team with 3-5 heavily armed police and a police bus. Facial tracking is everywhere, and phone searches are done daily. If you don't give them your password you have a gigantic problem.

Xinjiang has recently gotten more media attention, after many report showed the Chinese government managing 'The Uyghur problem' in a similar way as the Nazi's did with their 'Jewish problem'. Locking up > 1 million of the Muslim minority, 're-educating them' while simultaneously solving the organ donation problem by getting mandatory volunteers. Although it was forbidden to take photos [of police], and I was very close to having my camera confiscated 3 times, it was my task as a photographer of German heritage to sneak in with a camera and show you my view on 'The Uyghur problem'.

I was followed for days by police and I don't know if some of the people I've met on the road are still alive (they started disappearing). Only because I was trained in negotiation, participated in The Negotiation Challenge and knew where to hide my SD-cards, I managed to get out alive, with all the photo's.

治安 [Public security] is omnipresent
Xinjiang is the only province of China with a Muslim majority
[Shield, helmet, body armour and baseball Bat] Every public building, gas station and most shops have riot gear laying around, to control any potential uprising
Almost all security forces wear a red armband, resembling the military fashion choices of the late 1930's in Germany
With family members randomly 'dissapearing', many live in fear
Contact with foreigners is forbidden
Chinese flags are everywhere
Everywhere
Every street in every village is covered in flag after flag
The headbands worn show their Turkish roots
Head-scarfs in China, some villages started banning those
A lot of the police and soldiers were recruited from the local Uyghur population. Here is a soldier and a police officer giving a local man a kiss as a greeting
There is so much security, that there is barbed wire and metal detectors on every gas station. This is a gas station somewhere in the desert, with more barbed wire than bricks