Urumqi party chief, Xinjiang police chief sacked after protests

by Cheng Zhiliang and Gui Tao

URUMQI, Sept. 5 (Xinhua) -- The party chief of Urumqi and police chief of northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region were removed from their posts Saturday.

The removal came after the July 5 riot in Urumqi which left 197 people dead and following syringe attacks in the city that caused panic among the public.

Li Zhi, 59, secretary of the Urumqi Municipal Committee of the Communist Party of China (CPC), was replaced by Zhu Hailun, 51, secretary of the CPC Xinjiang Autonomous Regional Political and Legislative Affairs Committee, according to a decision by the CPC Xinjiang Autonomous Regional Committee and approved by the CPC Central Committee.

Li was appointed the Urumqi party chief in November, 2006.

Also on Saturday, Xinjiang's police chief Liu Yaohua was replaced by Zhu Changjie, party chief of Xinjiang's Aksu Prefecture.

SYRINGE ATTACKS

Fresh protests broke out this week after hundreds of Urumqi residents reported that they were stabbed by syringes. Five people were dead and at least 14 people hospitalized over injuries in the protests.

Tens of thousands of people took to the streets to protest against the syringe attacks and demand security guarantees.

By Thursday, local hospitals had dealt with 531 victims of hypodermic syringe stabbings, 106 of whom showed obvious signs of needle attacks.

Chinese military medical experts on Saturday ruled out the possibility that radioactive substance, anthrax and toxic chemical were used in recent syringe attacks in Urumqi City.