Martial Law

Martial law has been imposed on a town in central China after rioting between hundreds of members of the Han ethnic majority and Hui Muslims killed at least seven people, local residents said. The violence erupted Friday in Langchenggang, a town near Zhengzhou in Henan province, residents said. They said groups of as many as 500 rioters fought with sticks and burned several houses. The cause of the violence wasn't immediately clear.

China imposed martial law today on the Tibetan capital of Lhasa, and an American tourist said thousands of soldiers flooded the city to begin a massive crackdown on three days of bloody protests. At midnight, jeeps carrying loudspeakers sped through the city ordering residents to stay inside and informing them that martial law had begun, said the tourist, contacted by telephone from Beijing.

President Hussain Mohammed Ershad reimposed martial law Friday, banned all political activity, closed universities and clamped a midnight-to-5 a.m. curfew on the capital. Radio Bangladesh said no political rallies, demonstrations, processions, strikes or lockouts would be allowed until further notice.

Sunday morning, Julio Canani hedged his bet. He went to church. He hadn't knelt in a pew in 23 years, since he left Oxampampa, Peru, to train horses in America, because "the last time I go to church, they charge me a dollar." Sunday morning, though, he stopped off at a house of worship a few blocks from the race track, because something--or someone--was telling Julio to say a little prayer before the big race. It might have been Santa Anita herself.

The bloody uprising in Romania culminating in the execution of longtime leader Nicolae Ceausescu has alarmed China's hard-line leaders and dimmed hopes for an early relaxation of martial law in Beijing. American and other Western officials have repeatedly advised China that the removal of martial law would be a key step in restoring ties with the West. It would also help President Bush, who has been under fire from Congress for being too soft on China.

Somalia's acting parliament authorized martial law Saturday as the fledgling government struggled to assert authority over a country that has known little but clan warfare and chaos for more than 15 years. The vote will allow the U.N.-backed government to impose a state of emergency for as long as three months in this Horn of Africa nation, deputy parliament Speaker Osman Ilmi Boqore said during a legislative session broadcast live on a state-owned radio station.

China declared martial law in the Tibetan capital of Lhasa on Tuesday as the most serious pro-independence rioting in decades entered a third day. Thousands of Chinese soldiers began taking control of the city shortly after midnight, according to Western witnesses and the official New China News Agency. "Troops have been deployed in designated places," the news agency reported, quoting Maj. Gen. Zhang Shaosong, political commissar of the Tibet Regional Military Command.

On the front page of Indonesia's largest newspaper Thursday was a photo of a student demonstrator being kicked and stomped on the head by four police officers. Inside the pages of Kompas, the Jakarta daily, was an account of another demonstrator shot twice in the back by police dispersing a protest against army-backed militias rampaging in East Timor.

World Travel Watch is a monthly report designed to help you make informed judgments about travel throughout the world. Because conditions can change overnight, always make your own inquiries before you leave home. In the United States, contact the nearest passport agency office; abroad, check in with the nearest American embassy .

My story ends with a death, the death of Father Popieluszko (Jerzy Popieluszko, a priest allied with Solidarity, was kidnaped and killed in October, 1984). At the news of this tragedy, all Poland came to a standstill, dumbstruck, overcome by horror and grief. But we also asked ourselves: After this, what next?