By staff reporters Li Weiao and Zhu Tao

(Caijing.com.cn) Armed security forces and police were patrolling the Urumqi airport when Caijing reporters arrived early July 7, two days after bloody rioting rocked the city.

Downtown, streets that usually bustle with people well into the night were nearly empty. And as the sun rose, the city appeared peaceful.

Urumqi authorities held a midday press conference after up to 60 Uighur women and children gathered on the streets, claiming police had detained their male relatives. Li Zhi, secretary of the Urumqi Communist Party Committee, said the men had been arrested for involvement in the riot, adding police would protect the rights of the women and children.

Meanwhile, police vehicles regularly rolled down streets, although residents said the police presence had fallen since the height of the unrest, which left 156 people dead, including 129 men and 27 women, as well as 1,080 injured, according to Li Yi, publicity director for the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region's committee of the Communist Party.

Two auto dealerships on Dawan South Road were in shambles. Every car and car part had been burned, and shattered glass covered the ground.

One dealership owner told Caijing that many unidentified people had broken in during the riot, set fire to the cars and smashed the store. Two employees were beaten.

Another victim of the violence was Yang Zhaosheng, a 51-year-old migrant worker from Sichuan Province. He shook nervously while describing the riot scene but he said he would stay in Urumqi, after finding a safer place to work.

Sporadic unrest was reportedly continuing downtown. City authorities controlled traffic in selected areas between 9 p.m. July 6 and 8 a.m. July 7.

Internet access was blocked to cut ties between foreign hostile political and religious forces and the domestic mobs, and prevent any attempts at another coordinated riot, according to a statement from the information office of the government of the Xinjiang Autonomous Region.

According to the official Xinhua news agency, Xinjiang police had been informed that riots were being plotted in the cities of Kashgar, Yili and Aksu.

Police dispersed about 200 people gathered outside a mosque in Kashgar at about 6 p.m. July 6 and set up checkpoints along a road between the airport and commercial areas, according to Xinhua.

Li, the party spokesman, said police had detained 1,434 suspects in Urumqi for alleged involvement in the unrest. They included 1,379 males and 55 females under investigation for crimes including murder, looting and arson.

Full article in Chinese: http://www.caijing.com.cn/2009-07-07/110194265.html