As Friday, the Muslim day of prayer dawns, tensions in Urumqi are still high. From Reuters:
Security forces have imposed control over Urumqi, but the prayers after midday will be a test of the government’s ability to contain Uighur anger after Han Chinese, China’s predominant ethnic group, attacked Uighur neighborhoods on Tuesday.
Those attacks were in revenge for the deaths of 156 people in Uighur rioting on Sunday, the region’s worst ethnic violence in decades.
Several mosques throughout an overwhelmingly Uighur bazaar district of Urumqi displayed notices that usual prayers were suspended, and men at other mosques said they thought there would be no prayers on Friday, the main day of worship for Muslims.
