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The hundreds of troops that had camped out in the central part of the Xinjiang capital for the past three days were gone, but paramilitary police still guarded People's Square and military helicopters flew over the city of 2.3 million.
Crowds of Han Chinese, China's dominant ethnic group, cheered as trucks full of police and covered in banners reading "We must defeat the terrorists" and "Oppose ethnic separatism and hatred" rumbled by.
The region's worst ethnic violence in decades has already forced President Hu Jintao to cut short a trip to Italy, where he was to participate in a Group of Eight summit and hold talks with President Barack Obama. It was an embarrassing move for a leader who wants to show that China has a harmonious society as it prepares to celebrate the 60th anniversary of communist rule in October.
Public Security Minister Meng Jiangzhu has said "key rioters should be punished with the utmost severity."
Xinjiang - a sprawling, oil-rich territory that borders several Central Asian countries - is home to the Uighur ethnic minority, largely Muslim, who rioted Sunday and attacked Han Chinese after holding a protest that was ended by police.
Officials have said 156 people were killed and more than 1,100 people hurt as the Turkic-speaking Uighurs ran amok in the city, beating and stabbing. The Uighurs (pronounced WEE-gers) say trigger-happy security forces gunned down many of the protesters. Officials have yet to give an ethnic breakdown of those killed.
The People's Daily, the ruling Communist Party's main newspaper, ran an editorial Thursday saying the violence was "in extreme violation of China's laws."
Uighurs say the riots that started Sunday - put down by volleys of tear gas and a massive show of force - were triggered by the late June deaths of Uighur factory workers during a brawl in a southern Chinese city. State-run media have said two workers died, but many Uighurs believe more were killed.
Uighurs, a Turkic-speaking people who have complained about the influx of Han Chinese in the region and government restrictions on religion, said the incident was an example of how little the government cared about them.
Government officials and state media continued to accuse U.S.-exiled Uighur activist Rebiya Kadeer and her overseas followers of being behind the violence. She has denied the allegations and accused China of inciting the violence.
Urumqi's mayor, Jierla Yishamuding, was quoted by state media as saying Wednesday that the government would create a 100 million yuan ($14.6 million) Comfort Fund to help families of the dead, as well as those who were injured or disabled in the riot.
The official Xinhua News Agency reported that China's top police officer had been sent to Urumqi (pronounced uh-ROOM-chee) to offer condolences to the victims.
Taiwan's government called on China to handle the crisis with calm and restraint.
"We severely condemn the violence in the incident," Taiwan's Cabinet-level Mainland Affairs Council said on its Web site. It urged Chinese authorities to "show the utmost tolerance in dealing with expressions of public opinions, protests and ethnic questions."
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No country can benefit by suppressing people's faith ? Maybe, but countries like Pakistan and Bangladesh have survived and apparently have a thriving terror industry which give employment to thousands after suppressing and murdering tens of thousands of their non Muslim citizens since 1947! Please explain !
Beijing views the Uighur region as an invaluable asset because of its crucial strategic location near Central Asia and its large oil and gas reserves. American do have their eyes on it. The present American involvement in Afghanistan for the good of oil company called UNOCAL has the same purpose.Vast segments of the population lead subsistence lives little changed from 100 years ago, growing fruit or raising sheep or cattle. They are simple and innocent. With a dawn-to-dusk curfew, internet blackout, blocking graphic images of beaten and bloody bodies, bloggers and social-networking websites are giving voice to China's several-million Muslim Uighurs in the face of a massive crackdown. Internet has been disconnected throughout Xinjiang, a sign that the Chinese government has and will murder many more innocent Uighurs. Exiled Uighur groups have blamed China for the death toll, saying the protests were peaceful until security forces over-reacted and fired indiscriminately at the crowds
The 1948 Communist revolution proved to be a disaster for the Chinese Muslims, marking the beginning of repressive policies by successive regimes in China who continue to scuttle basic human rights in the county. 1959-1979: Religious practice was banned in totality. Many Imams and scholars were sent to notorious desert 'reform' camps - sometimes never to return. Muslim students were forced to drink water in Ramadhan before attending school, and were forced to feed pigs. Several mosques were converted or destroyed. Muslims were not allowed to go on pilgrimage to Mecca. The repression of Chinese Muslims continues. Even the slightest form of protest is crushed with brutal force. Several hundred Muslims have been either killed or wounded in this decade alone, and many remain unaccounted for. The troubles in the northwestern province of Xinjiang continue. As well, the government conducts nuclear tests in Muslim-dominated regions, thus putting the lives of millions of Muslims at great risk
Some elements never understand the value of liberty and always consider it as a passport to nefarious crimes. The coolness of govt is considered as weakness and they try sabotage peace in society. Authority will act definitely may be response time varies. Whether it is Russia or China or Jharkhand or Kashmir. Ultiately Law will be established with pain and bloodshed. No one need make a mistake about it.
China has supported muslims separatists world over and has had a soft corner for Pakistan in this regard. They are now confronted with the same problem India has - hopefully they will relaize there is never a benefit in supporting such criminals like those creating havoc in China, anywhere else in the world also.
Can India flex muscles in Jammu and Kashmir against the terrorists and against maoists and naxalites else where in India?
These separatists are loyal to each other like sati savitri to satyavan but when the test comes to check their loyalty in the country they live in,they have their interests somewhere else.nothing good comes out from such relationship.china and india must make clear to separatists that they can leave the country if they are not going to be loyal.it is no different than marriage vows.