Order partially restored

Traffic blockades were partially lifted Monday morning in parts of Urumqi, but tension still exists in the city.

With the exception of Yan'an Road, Tuanjie Road, a road near Xinjiang University, and Ningxiawan in the suburbs of Urumqi, blockades in downtown Urumqi have been removed.

Debris has been cleared from the roads and normal traffic has resumed. Workers are still pulling away damaged vehicles from the worst-affected roads in the city.

But most shops in areas where the violence occurred remained closed.

The violence in Urumqi, capital of northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, has left 156 people dead, according to official sources.[Xinhua]

At a market on Guangming Road, only ten vegetables and fruit stalls opened Monday, compared with dozens on normal days. The market was usually crowded.

Li Guifang, a resident near the market, said they had heard the violence last night and few residents came to the market in the morning.

Armed police are patrolling streets that are still blockaded.

Mastermind behind violence

Initial investigations showed the violence was masterminded by the separatist World Uyghur Congress led by Rebiya Kadeer, according to the regional government.

Rebiya Kadeer, a former businesswoman in China, was detained in 1999 on charges of harming national security. She was released on bail on March 17, 2005 to seek medical treatment in the United States.

"The violence is a preempted, organized violent crime. It is instigated and directed from abroad, and carried out by outlaws in the country," a government statement said early Monday.

According to the government, the World Uyghur Congress has recently been instigating an unrest via the Internet, calling on supporters "to be braver" and "to do something big."

Nur Bekri, chairman of the Xinjiang regional government, said in a televised speech Monday morning that three forces of terrorism, separatism and extremism made use of a fight between Uygur and Han ethnic workers in a toy factory in Guangdong Province on June 26, in which two Uygur workers died, to create chaos.

The fight was triggered by the sexual assault of a female Han worker by a Uygur coworker, he said.

"We should bear in mind that stability is to the greatest interest of all people in China, including the 21 million-plus people from all ethnic groups in Xinjiang," he said.

Xinjiang, the far western autonomous region, is home to more than 10.96 million of ethnic minority people, including Uygur, Mongolian and Hui.

(Xinhua News Agency July 7, 2009)