Chinese troops seek to quell unrest

The top Communist Party official in Urumqi, the capital of China’s far-western Xinjiang region, said that order had been restored, and that the government would seek the death penalty for the perpetrators of the violence, which has claimed at least 156 lives. The official, Li Zhi, said many of the suspects were students.

The violence began Sunday after a demonstration by ethnic Muslim Uighurs - upset over a stalled investigation into the death of two Uighur factory workers - apparently spun out of control, with participants attacking Han Chinese and their businesses. Witnesses said security troops fired shots at the protesters while Han Chinese retaliated against Uighurs with weapons made of household items ranging from kitchen knives to pipes and steel bars.

When it was over, more than 1,000 people had been injured in one of the bloodiest clashes since the founding of the People’s Republic of China 60 years ago.

The unrest has become a major challenge for this country’s Communist leaders. In a sign of their growing concern about the situation, President Hu Jintao canceled plans to attend the Group of Eight summit in Italy and rushed home early yesterday.

Relations between ethnic minorities and Han Chinese, who make up more than 90 percent of the Chinese population, have long been tense. But until the melee on Sunday, Urumqi had been one of the calmer parts of the West.

Thousands of Urumqi residents have responded to the violence by fleeing. Men, women, and children carrying hastily packed shopping bags with their most valued possessions crowded the city’s main bus and train stations yesterday. Tickets to many destinations were sold out for the next three days. Universities chartered buses to send students back to their home cities. And on many streets, entire families heading anywhere but here slugged through the heat lugging suitcases and blankets.

Despite a curfew from 9 p.m. to 8 a.m., small clashes between Uighurs and Han Chinese continued. About 300 Han Chinese rioters attacked Uighur shops and homes, witnesses said.

Meanwhile, clusters of armed groups roamed the streets during the day. About 20 Han Chinese men with wooden bats and other weapons converged to beat a Uighur man, according to a reporter with Agence France-Presse who witnessed the incident. A separate group of Han Chinese, who had been reading newspaper coverage of the violence, chased Uighurs at an intersection, catching one of them and attacking him.

By evening the area around Urumqi’s bazaar, where the protest started Sunday, had been transformed into a military zone.

Chinese authorities have said they have cordoned off the area for the safety of Uighurs who live and work there. Uighurs, however, have complained that they are being targeted in mass arrests while Han Chinese who attacked Uighurs have been allowed to walk away.