China's Riot Police Deployed to Halt Uighur Violence

BEIJING July 8, 2009— -- China deployed hundreds of helmeted troops in riot gear to Urumqi, the capital of restive Xinjiang region where ethnic riots left at least 156 dead and over 1,000 injured.

The heavy military presence was most evident in the central square and along major avenues as Chinese authorities sought to avert more clashes between the ethnic minority Uighurs and the majority Han Chinese.

Chinese security forces formed a perimeter around Uighur neighborhoods to prevent Uighurs from getting out and Han Chinese from going in. But the security blanket did not prevent sporadic outbreaks of violence.

An ABC News team driving to the Uighur quarter in Urumqi witnessed a group of 30 Han men beating a Uighur man, kicking him and hitting him with sticks. According to ABC producer Beth Loyd, the Uighur was not fighting back but was just simply trying to get away while hundreds of Han in the surrounding area were cheering the men on.

The police did little to stop the attack, but were eventually able to get the Uighur away from the mob and put him in a vehicle for his protection.

"Then the mob turned on us," Loyd said. "They blocked our cameras, not wanting the images of Han Chinese beating a Uighur to get out. I was pushed, then the crowd surrounded us and started yelling. They pushed us back up a highway ramp where we were shooting. They yelled that Western journalists were biased against the Han Chinese and that we should delete our footage. One man tried to grab our camera and then pulled out a baton and held it over his head as if he were going to hit us. We turned around and ran."

"The oddest part of the whole experience was that there were swarms of police and troops around and none of them were really trying to break up the fight," Loyd said.

When the ABC crew entered a Uighur neighborhood, they spoke to several residents who were afraid to have their faces shown on television out of fear of reprisal by the authorities. The police stopped the crew several times and eventually forced them to leave the area.