Journalists from more than 60 overseas media come to Urumqi after riot

URUMQI, July 7 (Xinhua) -- More than 60 overseas media have sent journalists to Urumqi, capital of northwest China's Xinjiang region, after a riot broke out in the city Sunday, leaving 156 people dead and 1,080 others injured.

Chinese and foreign journalists work at the press center established  at Hoi Tak Hotel in Urumqi, capital of northwest China's Xinjiang  Uygur Autonomous Region, July 7, 2009. More than 60 overseas media  have sent journalists to Urumqi after a riot broke out in the city  Sunday, leaving 156 people dead and 1,080 others injured.(Xinhua/Sadat)

"We disclosed information shortly after the incident. We welcome domestic and overseas journalists to come and see what happened," Hou Hanmin, deputy head of the publicity department of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Xinjiang regional committee, said Tuesday.

"As long as security can be guaranteed, we will try our best to arrange interviews," the official said, adding the country was moving ahead on information disclosure.

Sixty overseas news media and 80 domestic news media organizations attended a press conference Tuesday afternoon, at which the Urumqi mayor said identification of the dead in the riot is underway.

"The government adopts a much more open attitude toward the media after the incident, compared with that after the March 14 unrest in Tibet and the Sichuan earthquake last year," said Ted Plasker in fluent Chinese. He is a journalist with The Economist who has been in China since 1989.

"I saw tight security and very little traffic in the city," said Plasker, who arrived in Urumqi Monday afternoon.