China eases security as Urumqi gradually reopens

URUMQI, China — More roads reopened and shops unlocked their doors in Urumqi on Monday, but sporadic incidents reflected the underlying tensions in the city in western China where 184 people died in recent ethnic unrest.

The July 5 riots and subsequent unrest in Urumqi also left 1,680 wounded, and state media have warned that the death toll could rise. Of the more than 900 people still in hospital, 74 have life-threatening wounds, the official Xinhua News Agency said. Last week, riot police and paramilitary forces blocked off the city center to restore order after China’s worst ethnic violence in decades.

On Monday, frightened residents watched as police in bulletproof vests and carrying pistols, shotguns and batons chased down a man and kicked and beat him with batons.

Gunfire was heard before and during the brief incident near one of the city’s main Uighur neighborhoods but it wasn’t clear if they were connected.

Beaten, the man in a blue shirt and with blood on his right leg lay on the ground. Police formed a ring around him, pointing their guns up at the surrounding buildings as if worried about retaliation.

The violence shattered a relative calm that had descended on the city earlier Monday for the first time since the riots. People ran into their homes and shops, slamming their doors. An armored personnel carrier and paramilitary police arrived on the scene, and police waved their guns and shouted for people to get off the streets.

Security vehicles previously deployed on People’s Square were no longer there Monday but helmeted riot police remained in the area. Small groups of paramilitary police with riot shields stood guard on street corners and helicopters flew over the city.

Most roads leading to the Grand Bazaar market were reopened and in Uighur districts, more shops lifted their shutters, vendors pushed carts full of peaches and watermelon sellers sliced up their wares. Restaurant staff set up tables under trees next to the road.

Radio talk show hosts meanwhile urged taxi drivers to be polite to foreign and domestic visitors.

The violence began July 5 when Uighurs (pronounced WEE-gers) who were protesting the deaths of Uighur factory workers in a brawl in southern China clashed with police in Urumqi. Crowds scattered throughout the city, attacking ethnic Han Chinese and burning cars.

Government officials have yet to make public key details about what happened next, including how much force police used to restore order. In the following days, vigilante mobs of Han Chinese ran through the city with bricks, clubs and cleavers seeking revenge.

Of the dead, the government has said 137 Han Chinese and 46 Uighurs died, with one minority Hui Muslim also killed. Uighurs say they believe many more from their ethnic group died in the government crackdown.

Since last week, tens of thousands of Chinese troops have poured into Urumqi (pronounced uh-ROOM-chee) and other parts of Xinjiang to impose order. A senior Communist Party official vowed to execute those guilty of murder in the rioting.

Xinhua said police were manning checkpoints and searching buses for any suspects involved in the violence.

The Uighurs, who number 9 million in Xinjiang, have complained about an influx of Han Chinese and government restrictions on their Muslim religion. They accuse the Han of discrimination and the Communist Party of trying to erase their language and culture.

Han Chinese, many of whom were encouraged to emigrate here by the government, believe the Uighurs should be grateful for Xinjiang’s rapid economic development, which has brought new schools, highways, airports, railways, natural gas fields and oil wells to the sprawling, rugged region.

Uighurs favor independence or greater autonomy for Xinjiang province, which takes up one-sixth of China’s land mass and borders eight Central Asian countries. The Han — China’s ethnic majority — have lately been flooding into Xinjiang as the region becomes more developed.