Hundreds March in Chinese City Hit by Riots in July

Protesters push against a security force in Urumqi, in the Xinjiang region. The mostly Han Chinese crowd was angry over a series of syringe attacks in the city. (Associated Press)

By Christopher Bodeen

Associated Press
Friday, September 4, 2009

BEIJING, Sept. 3 -- Hundreds of Chinese protested deteriorating public safety Thursday after a series of mysterious syringe attacks further unnerved residents in the western Chinese city of Urumqi, where ethnic rioting in July killed nearly 200 people.

People living near the city center reached by telephone said hundreds, possibly thousands, of members of China's Han majority marched peacefully in the city center. They waved Chinese flags, confronted local Communist Party leaders to demand they step down, and shouted "Severely punish the hooligans" -- a reference to the July 5 rioters.

The protest underscored public jitters and lingering grievances despite the city's still-high police presence. It also posed a challenge for the Beijing leadership and a propaganda drive portraying all of China as harmonious ahead of the 60th anniversary of Communist rule Oct. 1.

July's rioting -- in which ethnic Muslims set upon Hans, who then retaliated with vigilante attacks -- was the worst communal violence in a decade in Xinjiang, an often tense Central Asian frontier region with valuable oil and gas deposits.

Thursday's protest came after days of rumors that gangs were roaming the city and stabbing mostly Han people with hypodermic needles. City officials and state media confirmed the attacks, saying 21 people had been detained. A report on Xinjiang TV's newscast Thursday said 476 people had sought treatment for stabbing, though only 89 had obvious signs of being pricked.

While no motivations for the attacks were given, the report gave a breakdown of the victims showing that almost all -- 433 -- were Han Chinese, with the rest drawn from eight other ethnic groups, suggesting that the attacks were ethnically motivated.

Concerns about the stabbings may be high because Xinjiang has the highest rate of AIDS virus infections in China, with the problem fueled by needle-sharing among drug users.

The mostly Han demonstrators seemingly took care not to rile ethnic grievances, calling out "Maintain ethnic unity" and venting their anger on local officials. They called for the ouster of Wang Lequan, who is the Xinjiang party secretary and an ally of President Hu Jintao.

Troubles in Xinjiang are magnified by ethnic resentments. The Uighurs, an ethnic Muslim group that sees the region as its homeland, complain about being displaced by the Han, who have poured into the area in recent years. The Han resent government affirmative action policies for official jobs and university spots given to Uighurs.