The Xinjiang Public Security Ministry said transport of weapons, ammunition, explosives and radioactive goods into or within Xinjiang would be suspended from Sept. 25 to Oct. 8.

The ministry did not give a reason, but the dates cover the 60th anniversary of Communist rule in China on Oct. 1 and the holiday period afterward. The ruling party has launched a nationwide security clampdown aimed at making the anniversary pass smoothly.

The notice comes amid ongoing police investigations into reported needle attacks in the regional capital of Urumqi that began Aug. 20 and apparently ended earlier this month. News of the attacks triggered massive street protests by frightened residents demanding better security.

Police had detained 75 suspects allegedly involved in the hypodermic stabbings as of Tuesday, the official Xinhua News Agency said Tuesday, citing a senior police officer.

Huang Yabo, a senior officer with the regional public security department, said police also cracked seven criminal rings and 36 needle attack cases in Urumqi and other cities in Xinjiang including Hotan, Turpan, Kashgar, Changji, Aksu and Altay, according to Xinhua.

Urumqi has been on edge since riots in July left nearly 200 dead in violence between Han Chinese and Uighurs, a minority Muslim ethnic group that is native to Xinjiang. The violence started when a group of Uighurs gathered in Urumqi to protest the deaths of two Uighurs at a factory in southern China.

Authorities blame the July violence and the needle attacks on people trying to split Xinjiang from China, but have not publicized evidence to support that allegation.

On Saturday, the Intermediate People’s Court in Urumqi sentenced three people — all ethnic Uighurs — to up to 15 years in prison in the first trials over the attacks. One person was sentenced for stabbing a woman and the other two for using a syringe to rob a taxi driver.

More than 500 people complained of being randomly stabbed by hypodermic needles, but only 171 people showed evidence of being pricked, and tests of samples from victims found no evidence of transmitted infections, Xinhua said.

Uighurs are culturally distinct from China’s majority Han group who dominate life in Urumqi and positions of power, despite the fact that Uighurs make up the majority of the population in the wider region of Xinjiang.

Authorities are also looking for dozens of people allegedly involved in the July riot. The China Daily newspaper said Tuesday 825 suspects have been detained and 196 have formally been arrested for their alleged role in the riots.

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HONG KONG—Authorities in the restive northwestern Chinese city of Urumqi have ordered an overnight traffic ban and posted armed police on public buses, after a bizarre series of syringe stabbings that prompted a large-scale public outcry.

The city government banned traffic in the municipal center from 9 p.m. Monday until 9 a.m. Tuesday, with police guarding every intersection, the official news agency Xinhua said.

Mass protests were sparked in the regional capital last week after reports that hundreds of people had been stabbed with syringes in the city, with a demonstration Thursday leaving at least four dead.

Beijing blames Muslim separatist groups among ethnic Uyghurs for the syringe attacks in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region (XUAR) capital, Urumqi, which was riven by deadly ethnic strife in July that claimed nearly 200 lives, according to the government’s tally.

More than 500 people have sought treatment for syringe stabbings in recent days, though only about 100 showed signs of having been pricked, official media said.

Witnesses meanwhile reported blockades outside predominantly Uyghur neighborhoods and armed police aboard pubic buses.

“All buses now have armed police aboard, and usually there are two of them sitting at the rear,” one young woman said in an interview.

“The city is currently halfway to qualify a status of martial law. Some roads have only one lane open to traffic while cars are less than before,” she said.

“There were occasional attacks [today]. Despite the large number of armed police presence, however, they might be able to control a large group but not every individual,” she added.

Rumors spread

Uyghurs abroad reported that they were largely unable to contact friends and family in the Xinjiang region by telephone.

Rumors meanwhile circulated unconfirmed of syringe attacks in other parts of the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region (XUAR), including Shihezi, the second largest city, and Changji, in the central north.

An employee at the Changji City People’s Hospital, contacted Monday by telephone, said staff had received warnings but seen no syringe-attack cases.

Dilxat Raxit, spokesman for the exiled World Uyghur Congress, cited reports that some 100 Han Chinese had attacked a Uyghur residential area near Urumqi’s Xingfu Road and Jiefang South Road late Sunday, killing three and wounding more than 20.”

The dead included two men and a woman in her 40s.

He called for a United Nations inquiry and for Beijing to hold talks with exiled Uyghur leader Rebiya Kadeer, whom Chinese authorities have blamed for instigating deadly ethnic clashes in July.

Urumqi Communist Party chief Li Zhi was sacked over the weekend and replaced by Zhu Hailun, the head of Xinjiang region’s law-and-order committee.

Liu Yaohua, director of the Xinjiang Autonomous Regional Public Security Department, was also dismissed, according to official media.

Tens of thousands of angry Han Chinese took to the streets Thursday and Friday calling for the ouster of Wang Lequan, Xinjiang’s Communist Party secretary, blaming him for failing to ensure their security.

Radio Free Asia

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