URUMQI, China — Thousands marched through this city in western China on Thursday after a series of stabbings with hypodermic needles further unnerved residents already jittery over deadly rioting between Han Chinese and Muslim Uighurs.
More than 10,000 people, mostly from the Han Chinese majority, took the streets, demanding increased security and punishment for those behind the July riots.
Demonstrators said police beat some protesters, but there were no major clashes.
By nightfall, authorities had cordoned off the city center, blocking intersections with patrol cars, and disconnected cellphone text-messaging services. Paramilitary police with shields, sticks and submachine guns sealed off People’s Square, where demonstrators had shouted down politicians. About 100 green trucks parked on the plaza.
“Everybody is angry,” said a female receptionist at the Hong Xin Hotel, next to People’s Square. “Two months have passed, and the hooligans still haven’t been brought to justice. So many innocent people lost their lives. They should not die in vain.”
The resort to mass demonstrations to air grievances is apt to further unnerve the Chinese leadership — already grappling with tens of thousands of increasingly large and violent protests every year — just as it prepares for a nationwide celebration of 60 years of communist rule on Oct. 1.
But the unrest shows how unsettled Urumqi remains despite continued high security since 197 people were killed in the worst communal violence to hit Xinjiang province in more than a decade.
The rioting began in Urumqi, the provincial capital, on July 5 when a protest by Muslim Uighurs spiraled out of control and Uighurs attacked Han. Days later, Han vigilantes tore through Uighur neighborhoods to retaliate.
State media reports said that most of the victims of the string of needle stabbings were Han Chinese, suggesting these attacks also were ethnically motivated.
AIDS fears also could be adding to concerns. Xinjiang has the highest rate of infections in China, with about 25,000 cases of HIV reported last year — fueled by needle-sharing among drug users.
The first needle stabbing occurred Aug. 20, according to a report Thursday on Xinjiang TV. Rumors about multiple attacks swirled, and on Wednesday, shopkeepers in two commercial areas shuttered their stores early as panicky residents stayed off the streets.
All told, 476 people have sought treatment for stabbings, though only 89 had obvious signs of being pricked and no deaths, infections or poisonings occurred, a TV report said.
During Thursday’s march, protesters caught and nearly beat a woman who supposedly stabbed someone in the crowd until police intervened, Xinhua News Agency reported.
Protesters focused their anger on officials’ failure to provide protection and start trials for any of the 1,200 people the government said it has arrested or detained over July’s rioting.
