Fear in China's Urumqi city as ethnic riot anniversary looms

Police told Abdullah not to leave home on today's anniversary of deadly ethnic violence in China's Urumqi city, where the bustle belies continued deep racial divisions and fears of more unrest.

"They told us we can't go out on July 5 and they also came around on Thursday to gather all our big knives," the 46-year-old said, drinking tea at his restaurant in the Uighur quarter.

Capital of far-western Xinjiang region, Urumqi was torn in two on July 5, 2009 as the mainly Muslim Uighur minority vented decades of resentment of Chinese rule with attacks on members of China's dominant Han ethnic group.

Han mobs took to the streets in the following days seeking revenge. Nearly 200 people were killed and 1,700 injured in all, the government says, in the worst ethnic violence in China in decades.

China blamed "separatists" for orchestrating the unrest.

Tensions in the city again boiled over in September after a spate of syringe attacks - which many victims blamed on Uighurs - led to days of protests that left five people dead.

Uighurs, Xinjiang's Turkic-speaking, central Asian people, say they live under fear of being detained on suspicion of fomenting trouble, while some Han say they are prepared for the worst if trouble breaks out again.

Authorities appeared to be bracing for the anniversary, with police conducting massive anti-riot exercises and 40,000 security cameras installed throughout the city.

Residents say security forces - already beefed up after last year's unrest - have deployed in ever greater numbers in recent days with armed police and riot police seen patrolling the city of over two million people yesterday.

People's Square in the heart of Urumqi, where the unrest began last year, was off limits yesterday, with a construction crew telling AFP the plaza would be closed for several months for refurbishment.

In a report issued Friday, the London-based Amnesty International cited "excessive use of force, mass arrests, enforced disappearances, torture and ill treatment" of prisoners during the crackdown that quelled the unrest.

"Amnesty International is calling on China to set up an independent and impartial inquiry into the human rights abuses committed by all participants in the Urumqi unrest," the group said in a statement.

At least 26 people have been sentenced to death for their roles in the unrest, with at least nine already executed, it said.

Uighurs have long alleged decades of Chinese oppression and unwanted Han immigration, and while standards of living have improved, Uighurs complain most of the gains go to Hans.

"The veil came off (in the unrest). People began to realise how deeply the ethnic animosity runs between Han and Uighurs," said Dru Gladney, an expert on Uighurs at Pomona College in California.

Restaurants and shops in the city were open and busy at the weekend. Mosques were packed for Friday prayers in the Uighur quarter, with some faithful spilling onto the pavement.

At one mosque, Muslim men prayed in the shadow of a large sign urging people to oppose separatism and "Uphold the unity of the motherland", as groups of armed riot police kept guard at nearby intersections.

Police were also seen checking bags at the entry to marketplaces, stores and hotels.

Text-messaging services, overseas calls and the internet - cut off amid the violence because of fears they could be used to fuel it - have gradually been restored, although some Uighur-language websites remain blocked.

Many Uighurs refused to be interviewed by AFP, fearing police reprisals. Others bitterly alleged continued oppression and some complained large numbers of Uighurs were taken away by police after the unrest, their fates unknown.

A Uighur businessman who refused to be named said his 20-year-old brother was sentenced to nine years in prison for throwing a stone at a car in last year's trouble.

"That's unimaginably strict, and as you can imagine, it's really difficult on my family," he said.

Xinjiang enjoyed long spells of autonomy in its history, but China's 1949 Communist takeover led Beijing to emphatically assert its sovereignty claims.

Abdullah wants to get a passport for his son - which he said was difficult for Uighurs - so he can leave Xinjiang for a foreign country where "salaries are higher and the human rights situation is good".