A shop was destroyed on Sunday, July 5, 2009, in Tianchi Street in Urumqi, capital of China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region. Nearly 1,000 protesters from a Muslim ethnic group rioted in China's far west, overturning barricades, attacking bystanders and clashing with police in violence that killed at least three people, including a policeman, state media and witnesses said.
Chinese paramilitary police rest inside an armored vehicle at the entrance to a Uighur district which has been closed following riots in Urumqi, western China's Xinjiang province, Monday, July 6, 2009. The clashes, which have left more than 150 dead, signaled a new phase in a region used to seeing bombings and assassinations by militant separatists but few mass protests.
Residents pass by a burnt shop front following riots in Urumqi, western China's Xinjiang province, Monday, July 6, 2009.
Chinese paramilitary police close off the roads to a hospital where the injured are kept after riots in Urumqi, western China's Xinjiang province, Monday, July 6, 2009. Police sealed off streets in parts of the provincial capital, Urumqi, after discord between ethnic Muslim Uighur people and China's Han majority erupted into riots. Witnesses reported a new, smaller protest Monday in a second city, Kashgar.
Residents walk past a smashed up shop front following riots in Urumqi, western China's Xinjiang province, Monday, July 6, 2009. Police sealed off streets in parts of the provincial capital, Urumqi, after discord between ethnic Muslim Uighur people and China's Han majority erupted into riots.
A Uigher woman walks past Chinese paramilitary police on duty in Urumqi, western China's Xinjiang province, Monday, July 6, 2009.
A group of Chinese paramilitary police hang out near military vehicles in Urumqi, western China's Xinjiang province, Monday, July 6, 2009. Chanting "Strike down the criminals," hundreds of paramilitary police with shields, rifles and clubs took control of the streets Monday in the capital of western China's Muslim region, a day after the deadliest ethnic violence in decades.