The bustle of business and the roar of traffic returned to Urumqi yesterday as columns of troops miles long filled the streets in a show of might designed to reassure Han Chinese after Sunday’s riots.

Throughout the day, lorries filled with paramilitaries and soldiers paraded slowly down city centre streets. Armoured personnel carriers, water cannon vehicles and vans equipped to fire teargas followed. Some vehicles were emblazoned with slogans such as “Smash the separatists” and “Bring peace to the city”. The Times counted a column of police that took 40 minutes to pass by. One witness counted 60 sets of lorries driving two abreast before losing count.

President Hu Jintao, who left the G8 summit in Italy to fly home on Wednesday to deal with the crisis, sent his security chief to Urumqi to demonstrate how seriously the leadership regards the deadly unrest. Zhou Yongkang visited the injured in hospital and was shown on television with Han and Uighur victims. He also addressed some of the tens of thousands of paramilitary People’s Armed Police and troops deployed in the city.

In the first statement by the regime since Sunday, Mr Hu called the riots “serious violent crime elaborately planned and organised by three forces at home and abroad”. That was an apparent reference to religious extremists, separatists and terrorists — an attempt to shift the blame away from local grievances to clearly defined groups.

China has described the riots as the worst in 60 years of Communist Party rule. The President, who is also the Communist Party chief and head of the armed forces, told local authorities that they must isolate and deal a blow to the small group of rioters and unite and educate the Uighurs.

His words reflect the fears among the regime over the dangerous divisions that have opened up between Han and Uighur in the volatile region of Xinjiang.

“The Han ethnic group cannot be separated from minorities, minorities cannot do without Han and minority groups also cannot do without each other,” he said.

The authorities have not said how many Han were killed for fear of stirring up more mobs of Han vigilantes although one official has said that 33 Uighurs were among the dead.

Shi Guanzheng, a retired teacher originally from Shanghai, dared not venture too far despite the heavy security presence. “The killing of innocent people is never justified but now both sides are so filled with emotion that the repercussions will last a long time,” he said. “I’m scared about what will happen when the People’s Armed Police have to leave. It’s not about tomorrow or the next day. It’s about next month or after. What then?”

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