"It's important that Han and Uighur people can live together," said Yu, an account manager for a tomato paste manufacturer. "But I feel like this incident has broken the relationship and trust."
Official news sources reported that the People's Hospital, one of the largest medical facilities in Urumqi, treated 291 riot victims, including 233 Han and 39 Uighurs. Of those admitted to the hospital, 17 died.
With his left cheek the size of a grapefruit, a bloodied Chen Shengli walked out of the hospital Monday night into the eerily quiet city center.
A night earlier, the 41-year-old Han truck driver was wounded in the clashes between Uighurs and authorities. Chen, who needed four stitches, said he was pulled randomly from his flatbed and beaten by a mob of about 20 Uighurs.
He was able to escape only after being led to safety by a Uighur woman who urged the rioters to stop. He said he regretted not being able to rescue an elderly man who was being pelted by the crowd.
It was not yet clear whether any one group suffered the brunt of the violence, nor how many security officers were killed or injured. Uighur voices have been largely drowned out by China's censors, who have blocked Twitter, Facebook and various Uighur sites that might offer competing versions of what happened.
There were signs that news of the riots had led to additional protests in other Uighur communities in Xinjiang province. State media reported that authorities dispersed about 200 demonstrators Monday in Kashgar, about 900 miles west of Urumqi. The protesters had gathered at the Id Kah Mosque, the largest mosque in China, before authorities secured the area, the reports said.
"The information we are getting is that this is sort of spreading," Rebiya Kadeer, head of the World Uyghur Congress, an exile group, said at a news conference Monday in Washington. "Because of the tragic event, many people were killed and a lot of families and friends were killed. So others may have joined in other towns as well to protest."
Uighurs say they were trying to hold a peaceful protest Sunday afternoon at People's Square over the killing last month of two young Uighur men in Guangdong and that it turned violent after the paramilitary forces intervened.
Demonstrators today in Urumqi complained bitterly about their treatment by police, a recurring grievance for young Uighurs. A 22-year-old man named Abdul Ali said that police pushed him around and stole his cellphone and about $75.
