Security Tight in Urumqi as Calm Returns

In China todaycalm is returning to Ürümqi, the capital of the Xinjiang region. It comes after last week's violent protests left more than a hundred people dead.
Armored personnel vehicles and platoons of soldiers guarded Ürümqi's central People's Square on Sunday. It's been just one week since protests in the capital of Xinjiang turned violent and deadly.

Parts of Ürümqi remain tense, especially in Uighur neighborhoods. Still, a semblance of calm has returned to much of the city, in part because of a heavy security presence—as many as 20,000 troops were brought in last Wednesday.

One Uighur resident says that people are beginning to turn their thoughts back to business.

[Unidentified Urumqi Resident]: (male, mandarin, no title bar)
"I don't think it'll happen again. Look at all the police and soldiers. It won't happen. We're all back at work."

One group of Han Chinese workers had returned to their car dealership in a Uighur neighborhood to clean up damage caused by last week's riots.

There was, however, a brief demonstration on Friday after some mosques reopened.

The Chinese regime has put forth a lot of effort to keep its grip on this vast territory. Xinjiang borders eight countries, has abundant oil reserves, and is China's largest natural gas-producing region.

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• Urumqi