(AFP) – Jun 16, 2008

URUMQI, China (AFP) — China Tuesday kicked off the Olympic torch relay's sensitive leg through Xinjiang, a predominantly Muslim western region where Beijing acknowledges there are ethnic tensions.

The legs through Xinjiang and the Tibetan regions of China are considered the most sensitive of the three-month nationwide route due to simmering discontent among local ethnic groups.

The three-day, four-city Xinjiang leg got underway with a 12-kilometre (7.5-mile) relay through the regional capital of Urumqi that began on People's Square, considered a symbol of Chinese Communist power in the city.

Under sunny skies, Urumqi was largely shut down with police checkpoints restricting movement throughout the normally bustling city.

Police had imposed particularly heavy security at the People's Square, and anyone entering had to go through metal detectors and bag searches.

The crowd on the square, numbering about 3,000, was chanting "Go, China!" and "Go, Olympics!" Many had stickers of the Chinese flag on their cheeks.

They were overwhelmingly Han Chinese, with only a tiny number of Uighurs, the largest ethnic group in the region.

Leading away from the square the crowds lining the route were also mostly Chinese, many of them youth who had got a day off from school as well as government employees.

The torch was lit in the shadow of a monument to the People's Liberation Army.

Prior to the start of the torch relay, organisers held a moment of silence for the Sichuan quake victims.

A large red banner urged unity among Xinjiang's ethnic minorities, while a large TV screen showed video praising the fact that Xinjiang's 47 minorities "get along so well."

Copyright © 2009 AFP. All rights reserved. More »