Mosques closed as China tries to restore order in far west

Jul 10, 2009, 5:34 GMT

   Beijing - Mosques were closed in China's far western city of Urumqi Friday, forcing Muslims to hold prayers at home, as the government used police, troops and public appeals in a bid to prevent more conflict between Uighur and Han Chinese residents there.

   'The official word is that they're open, ... but we went to four different mosques, and they all say they're closed,' a news photographer working in Urumqi told the German Press Agency dpa by telephone.

   The city 'looks better' and the atmosphere seemed 'more relaxed' on the streets on Friday, he said after rioting in the city this week, 'but it just takes a few minutes to get it agitated.'

   There were no longer groups of people armed with sticks on the streets, but thousands of police and troops were still keeping order, and ethnic divisions appeared strong, the photographer said.

   Han Chinese taxi drivers refused to visit Uighur areas because they were afraid of being attacked, he said.

   Chinese President Hu Jintao on Thursday called for stability in the Xinjiang region, of which Urumqi is the capital, and said organizers of recent rioting had links to 'separatism' and international terrorism.

   Stability in Xinjiang was the 'most important and pressing task' facing the government, Hu said in a statement after an emergency meeting of the nine-member standing committee of the ruling Communist Party's Politburo.

   Hu and the other leaders said rioting in Urumqi, was a 'serious violent crime which was masterminded and organized by the 'three forces' of terrorism, separatism and extremism at home and abroad.'

   The remarks were Hu's first since he returned to China from Italy on Wednesday after cancelling his attendance at the Group of Eight summit to address the ethnic conflict in Xinjiang.

   The official casualty toll stands at 156 dead and more than 1,000 injured, but Uighur exile groups said that up to 800 people have died in the violence, many of them Uighurs shot or beaten to death by police.

   The government has not updated the number of dead and injured for more than three days despite reports of new attacks by Uighur and Han Chinese groups since the initial clashes on Sunday and Monday.

   It has also reported little news from other cities in Xinjiang, some of which also experienced protests this week by Uighurs, a Turkic-speaking Muslim group that accuses Beijing of discrimination.

   Xinjiang's population of about 20 million includes about 8 million Uighurs and more than 10 million Han Chinese, China's dominant ethnic group.