Hundreds March in Chinese City Hit by Riots in July

BEIJING — 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.

Washington Post