Mosques open for Friday prayers in Urumqi, but China continues to keep tight lid on city

Mosques in Urumqi open for Friday prayers

URUMQI, China — More than 100 Chinese riot police with shields and wooden sticks lined up directly across the street from a popular mosque during Friday prayers, warning worshippers not to protest again in this western city rocked by the region’s worst rioting in decades.

About 1,000 faithful prayed without incident at the White Mosque in Urumqi, capital of China’s oil-rich Xinjiang region. As the prayers began, a loudspeaker police truck cruised past the mosque, blasting government slogans that drowned out the imam’s voice for those worshipping outside the crowded building topped by a green dome flanked by blue-trimmed minarets.

Urumqi has been tense since rioting erupted on July 5 after police stopped a protest by Muslim minority Uighur residents. The Uighurs went on a rampage, smashing windows, burning cars and beating Han Chinese — the nation’s dominant ethnic group. Two days later, the Han took to the streets and attacked Uighurs.

The government has said the rioting killed 192 people and injured 1,721. State media has reported that more than 1,400 people have been detained.

Posters on concrete apartments tell residents that most of the suspects in the violence have been arrested but a few are still on the run. The notices urge people to turn in suspects who are still at large in exchange for “big rewards.”

During the first week after the rioting, thousands of security forces who flooded into the capital seemed off balance and overwhelmed as they tried to restore order in the city of 2.3 million. The Uighurs and Han Chinese also remained agitated and there was sporadic fighting and protests.

But nearly two weeks after the unrest began, security forces had a tight grip on Urumqi (pronounced uh-ROOM-chee), and many Uighurs appeared reluctant to protest or criticize the government for fear of arrest.

All 433 mosques in Xinjiang’s regional capital, some of which had been closed last week, were open to the public Friday, the official Xinhua News Agency reported, citing a religious affairs official.

After Friday prayers last week, about 40 Uighurs gathered outside the White Mosque and began protesting. They marched down the street a few blocks before riot police stopped the demonstration and hauled them away.

On Friday, the security forces were prepared for unrest, positioning more than 100 police across from the mosque. Clusters of police with rifles were stationed nearby, and officers ordered all the shops around the mosque to close.

Few people were leaving their homes in Uighur (pronounced WEE-ger) neighborhoods, where small crowds gathered in the streets last week to vent their anger with the government and Han Chinese majority.

One Uighur woman had been very vocal earlier in alleging that officials discriminated against her ethnic group and restricted her religion, a moderate form of Sunni Islam. She had also voiced a popular perception that the state-run media dwelled on the violent acts by Uighur rioters but generally downplayed the violence by the Han.

But on Friday, the woman, who asked that her name not be used, would not leave the entrance of her house to speak to an Associated Press reporter.

“It has been peaceful here the past few days, but we still don’t have any news from all the Uighur men who have been arrested after the rioting,” she said. “The police are also warning us that if we talk to foreign reporters, we could be taken away.”

China is no longer a totalitarian nation like it was during the early years after the 1949 communist revolution when the government led by Mao Zedong controlled nearly every facet of a person’s life. However, the regime is authoritarian with a massive security force that can muster great resources to deal with a localized situation, like in Urumqi.

The government’s view is that ethnic tension threatens the progress Xinjiang has made in recent years. The economy’s average growth rate in the past 30 years has been 10.3 percent, and last year it hit 11 percent, despite the global downturn, the government has said.

Officials have also said that the Uighurs have benefited from a building boom that has created new highways, airports, schools, hospitals and even mosques throughout the rugged, diamond-shaped region, three times the size of France.

Outside the White Mosque on Friday, a large red banner stretched across the building said, “Support ethnic unity, oppose ethnic separatism.”

Inside the building, the imam — who like other religious leaders is vetted by the government — was preaching the official line.

“The imam told us to be peaceful and work for social harmony, to take care of our business and family,” said one worshipper, who declined to give his name. “He also told us not to smoke and drink.”