Chinese residents argue with Chinese riot police on the streets of Urumqi in western China's Xinjiang province, Thursday, Sept. 3, 2009. Chinese residents protested deteriorating public safety Thursday after reported syringe attacks in the city where ethnic rioting in July killed nearly 200 people.
Chinese paramilitary police watch as Chinese gather on the streets of Urumqi in western China's Xinjiang province, Thursday, Sept. 3, 2009. Chinese residents protested deteriorating public safety Thursday after reported syringe attacks in the city where ethnic rioting in July killed nearly 200 people.
Chinese police officers patrol near Han and Uighur children at a school in Urumqi in western China's Xinjiang province, Thursday, Sept. 3, 2009. Chinese residents protested deteriorating public safety Thursday after reported syringe attacks in the city where ethnic rioting in July killed nearly 200 people.
Chinese protesters push against a line of Chinese paramilitary police on the streets of Urumqi in western China's Xinjiang province, Thursday, Sept. 3, 2009. Chinese residents protested deteriorating public safety Thursday after reported syringe attacks in the city where ethnic rioting in July killed nearly 200 people
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.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.
The demonstration 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 Urumqi and all of China as harmonious ahead of the 60th anniversary of communist rule Oct. 1.
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.
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.
Zhao, the Chinese demonstrator, said anger was stoked by a perceived delay in trials for those arrested over the July riot as well as by the syringe stabbings.
"This is communal violence and people are frustrated because over 200 people were killed and almost 1,700 were injured. And of course you have friends, relatives and children who were attacked. So the people are not happy," said Bo, the politics expert.
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.
Trying to head off trouble, Wang and the Urumqi party secretary Li Zhi separately talked to the demonstrators, who called for better police protection and demanded they step down, an editor at a local newspaper said, requesting his name not be used because he works for the government.
"Am I that silly? Do I not know that I should protect my brothers and sisters?" Li told them, according to footage the editor said was aired on Urumqi's TV station.
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