China president hurries home from G8 after rioting

URUMQI, China — China’s president cut short a G8 summit trip to rush home Wednesday after ethnic tensions soared in Xinjiang territory, and the government flooded the area with security forces in the wake of a massive riot that left 156 dead.

Helicopters dropped leaflets appealing for calm among the Xinjiang capital’s 2.3 million residents a day after running battles in the streets involving Han Chinese and minority Muslim Uighurs waving bricks, steel pipes and cleavers.

A Foreign Ministry statement said “given the current situation in Xinjiang,” President Hu Jintao cut short a trip to Italy for a Group of Eight meeting later Wednesday to return home. It was not known if he would travel to Urumqi, about four hours by air west of Beijing.

After an overnight curfew, streets of Urumqi were calmer Wednesday, but residents showed cell phone and video camera footage of the earlier chaos, reporting neighbor-on-neighbor violence and pointing out bloodstains. Some formed alleyway barricades with furniture and debris.

“The government told us today not to get involved in any kind of violence. They’ve been broadcasting this on the radio and they even drove through neighborhoods with speakers telling people not to carry weapons,” said one Han Chinese man who would give only his surname, Wang.

Hundreds of paramilitary police guarded the main roads to Uighur neighborhoods and the city’s central square, where the first riots began. Most were armed with shields and clubs, while a few had assault rifles fixed with bayonets. Even before Tuesday’s violence, the government said more than 1,000 had been detained.

The notes dropped by helicopter carried an appeal for calm from Xinjiang’s Communist Party secretary. “Secretary Wang urges everybody to return home, return to their work units and return to their communities,” read the title in bold Chinese characters.

Crowds reacted warily. “We don’t believe this. They need to tell the Han to retreat. We’re going to stay here to protect our homes,” said a Uighur businessman, who would give only part of his name, Mamet.

Shortly afterwards, policemen — some Han, some Uighur and armed with handguns and automatic rifles — came through the neighborhood to enforce calm.

“We are just protecting our homes. We are not planning a counterattack,” said one of a group of 10 Uighur men guarding the entrance to a side street. After talking with the police, the men turned and walked inside nearby shops and buildings.

Uighurs say the riots that started Sunday — put down by volleys of tear gas and a massive show of force — were triggered by the June 25 deaths of Uighur factory workers killed in a brawl in the southern Chinese city of Shaoguan. State-run media have said two workers died, but many Uighurs believe more were killed and said the incident was an example of how little the government cared about them.

Many of the Turkic-speaking group believe the Han Chinese, who have flooded into the rugged, rapidly developing western region in recent years, are trying to crowd them out. The Han Chinese say the Uighurs are backward and ungrateful for all the economic development and modernization.

They also say the Uighurs’ religion — a moderate form of Sunni Islam — keeps them from blending into Chinese society, which is officially communist and largely secular.

The authorities have been trying to control the unrest by blocking the Internet, including social networking sites such as Facebook, and limiting access to texting services on cell phones. At the same time, police have generally been allowing foreign media to cover the tensions.

On Wednesday, workers in Internet cafes in two other Xinjiang cities, Turpan and Kashgar, said Internet connections had been cut.

“The police came to us and told us to shut down our Internet cafe for the next three days, but who knows how long this will last,” said the manger of the Huo Zhou Internet cafe in Turpan. He would give only his surname, Pei.

But it was impossible to stop the use of residents’ video cameras and cell phones. In one of the biggest Uighur neighborhoods Wednesday, residents showed reporters cell phone and video camera footage of Han Chinese mobs armed with sticks storming into their neighborhoods.

The residents showed spots where they said Uighurs were beaten to death. Blood stains were visible on concrete walls.

“I saw the Han Chinese stab two Uighurs and I took them to the hospital where they died,” said one man, who gave his name as Ahmet.

“They came in here and struck people with sticks and threw rocks at us. They were carrying the Chinese flag. I never imagined that something like this could happen,” said Parizat, a young university student.

The neighborhood was also home to some Han Chinese, but the Uighurs said their Han neighbors joined the attacks.

A Han Chinese man surnamed Li, confirmed the attack, saying: “Yesterday, the Han rushed in here and started attacking people and cars. The police stood there and did nothing.”

But the Uighurs’ video footage showed that paramilitary police tried to control the crowds.