Tens of thousands of people have taken to the streets of Urumqi in China after reports of a spate of mysterious syringe attacks.
Police have ordered residents to stay indoors and have stationed officers throughout the city, in a forceful response aimed at staving off bloodshed such as that seen in July, when nearly 200 people were killed.
There are claims that 476 people have been stabbed with syringes across the Xinjiang region.
‘Since August 20, the Xinjiang government has been receiving reports by local disease control centres that people have been attacked with syringes,’ a report on a Xinjiang-based station said.
Media reports did not say whether the syringes were thought to have been contaminated.
Amid unconfirmed rumours and growing anger, thousands took to the street of Urumqi this afternoon.
‘The reason for the protest was because people were stabbed by the needles,’ a woman who runs a local medical clinic said, asking not to be named.
Bingtuan Television, run by the Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps, a semi-military organisation in China's northwestern region, said police had detained 15 people over the needle stabbings, and four were facing charges.
‘Those guilty will be punished severely,’ the report said, quoting police.
The official Xinhua news agency has said the attackers targeted members of nine ethnic groups, including Han Chinese and Muslim Uighurs, but no one had been infected or poisoned.
