Urumqi (China): Chinese police used tear gas
to disperse fresh protests in the restive north-western city of
Urumqi on Friday, state media reported, one day after tens of
thousands took to the streets here.
The Xinhua news agency said the latest protest occurred
in the city centre at the entrance to Nanhu Square, where
police were blocking about 1,000 protesters from entering. It
did not give further details.
The brief report also said about 100 young protesters had
massed on Jiefangnan Road near the Muslim quarter.
Earlier, an AFP journalist witnessed a separate protest
involving about 1,000 demonstrators, most of them Han Chinese,
who faced off with armed police, denouncing the government and
throwing plastic bottles at security forces.
The demonstration took place about a block away from the
Xinjiang region's government headquarters in People's Square,
where mass protests involving tens of thousands erupted
yesterday.
The crowd repeatedly scuffled with riot police, shouting
"Release him! Release him!" whenever they tried to subdue a
protester who had challenged them.
At one point, protesters demanded the resignation of the
regional Communist Party chief, yelling: "Wang Lequan, step
down!"
Hundreds of regular and armed police reinforcements
rushed to the scene and eventually dispersed the crowd, about
one hour after the incident began. Not far from the scene,
hundreds more security forces were on standby.
Armed police fanned out across the tense city today, one
day after tens of thousands of people protested over a series
of mysterious syringe attacks that residents blame on the
region's Uighurs, a mostly Muslim ethnic group.
The tension comes two months after at least 197 people
were killed in rioting on July 5, the worst ethnic violence
seen in China in decades.
"The government is really lame. Everybody can see that
now. It's been two months and they still have not dealt with
this properly. How can that be?" asked Wang Jinren, who
watched today's protest from his jade store.
"They have come up with no plan for dealing with these
problems. They need to explain to the people how they are
going to address this. But these problems are so big, maybe no
one can solve them."
During today's confrontation near People's Square, police
using loudspeakers pleaded with the crowds to disperse.
"Friends, please listen. Urumqi's safety situation has
returned to normal. Please help us maintain stability by
returning to your homes as soon as possible," they said.
Bureau Report
First Published: Friday, September 04, 2009, 20:18