Xinjiang slowly returns to social order after riot

Source: Xinhua  |   2009-7-14  |     NEWSPAPER EDITION

XINJIANG is slowly returning to normal more than a week after the deadliest riot in the far western Chinese region in six decades, despite police shootings and sporadic tension in the capital city of Urumqi.

According to the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region government, police yesterday shot dead two people and injured another in an attempt to stop them from attacking a person in Urumqi.

The three people were attacking the fourth person with clubs and knives at 2:55pm near the People's Hospital at Jiefang Road S., the government said. All four people involved were of the Uygur ethnic group.

Police on patrol fired warning shots before shooting at the three suspects. Two died at the scene and the injured person was taken to hospital.

Citizens have been asked to carry identity cards or driver's licenses for police checks when they go out in Urumqi.

Police would take away for interrogation anyone who did not have a card, the Urumqi Public Security Bureau said on Sunday.

"Citizens are strictly banned from carrying dangerous articles, including batons or knives, in urban streets or public venues," the bureau said in a notice.

The move was to "prevent a tiny number of individual criminals from the riot who were still at large from seeking revenge and to protect the lives and property of citizens," the notice said.

Citizens were also banned from shouting slogans, posting banners, distributing leaflets or gathering for lectures in city streets or public venues, the notice said.

Police will immediately disperse gatherings, confiscate propaganda material and take away key members for interrogation according to law, it said.

Senior Party leader Zhou Yongkang said yesterday in Urumqi that life in the region was returning to normal.

"People feel more secure and the situation is improving," Zhou said at a meeting with top officials of the riot-torn region.

The fight against the "three forces" of separatism, terrorism and extremism was a "serious political battle" to safeguard national unity, ensuring the masses' fundamental interests and strengthening the Party's leadership, he said.

"Currently, various instability factors still exist and the task of maintaining stability is arduous," he said. "Stability in Xinjiang is the most important and pressing task that has overwhelming priority."

Zhou urged local officials to reinforce measures to maintain stability after the July 5 riot in Urumqi that left at least 184 dead and injured 1,680 others.

Zhou was on his fifth day in Xinjiang.

"The importance in ensuring Xinjiang social order should be fully learned, and the fight against separatism and terrorism in the region is a long-term and acute task," said Zhou, Standing Committee member of the Communist Party of China Central Committee Political Bureau.

"People have stood severe tests in a critical moment and made outstanding contributions" in fighting criminality, he said.

He urged officials to "nip hidden dangers in the bud" and tell the public the truth.

Those who broke the law should be "severely and immediately punished."

A good sign of things returning to normal in Urumqi yesterday was a traffic jam. This was also in stark contrast to the light traffic just after the riot.

"I didn't expect so many cars," said Hu Wenguang, a resident of Urumqi. "It took me more than 20 minutes to drive to work, double the time of last week."

Residents welcomed the traffic congestion that was usually annoying.

"I feel that social order is returning," said a woman surnamed Gao, who had just returned to Urumqi from Kuqa in mid-west Xinjiang. "Traffic jams are usually annoying, but I'm now pleased to see it."

Authorities yesterday reopened the square in front of Id Kah Mosque in Kashgar, the country's largest mosque, a week after police closed it.