China's Ethnic Groups Struggle Forward After Riots

Tourist hotels near the square had no rooms left because security forces had booked them all, one hotel receptionist said.

A Uighur boy looks at a camel near the sealed-off Grand Bazaar in Urumqi, western China's Xinjiang...

A Uighur boy looks at a camel near the sealed-off Grand Bazaar in Urumqi, western China's Xinjiang province, Sunday, July 12, 2009. The center of the riot-hit city of Urumqi was tense but calm Sunday, one week after ethnic fighting began that left 184 people dead and alarmed China's communist leaders. (AP Photo/Eugene Hoshiko)

(AP)

In Urumqi, armed paramilitary police patrolled People's Square, the site of the July 5 protest, but there were no reports of clashes. Some roads to the main market were still closed Sunday, and the market was guarded by armed military police.

By mid-morning, a helicopter buzzed low over the main bazaar where many Uighurs set up shop. Crowds of shoppers and families stopped in their tracks, nervously watching the chopper before it ascended and flew off.

Ali Mohamad, 36, who sells watermelon outside the market, said he fears the divisions between the two sides will deepen.

"I don't know how long it will be before things improve, but the situation is bad because people think it's not safe here. There's nothing I can do," said Ali, who said he was setting up his fruit stand Sunday for the first time since the riots.

In one of the worst-hit Uighur districts, Wang Yong said rioters had shattered the windows of his small convenience store and set the shop on fire, causing what he estimated as $4,400 to $5,900 in damages.

On Sunday, he was putting in metal shutters. "They give me a sense of security," said Wang, who is Han Chinese.

A Uighur businessman who gave his name as Akbar expressed optimism that the tensions might eventually subside, but for now, he said, trust is a problem.

"They have been afraid of Uighurs," Akbar said of the Han. "And the Uighurs are afraid of the Han people."

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Associated Press writer William Foreman reported from Hotan, China.

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