KASHGAR, China (AFP) — China's heavily Muslim west was tense on Thursday ahead of the Beijing Olympics Games opening ceremony as the authorities vowed to crush any attempt to cause disruption.
The move appeared part of a broad clampdown in the Xinjiang region after an attack Monday in the city of Kashgar killed 16 police officers, which officials blamed on Muslim ethnic Uighur separatists seeking to destabilise the Games.
Authorities in the regional capital Urumqi were set to launch "intense" patrols in the city in preparation for Friday's much-anticipated opening ceremony in Beijing, the Xinjiang Daily News said.
"To ensure security during the ceremony, the Urumqi police will guard against and severely strike any destructive or illegal activities," the government-run mouthpiece said.
"All our strength will be channelled toward increasing the frequency and intensity of public security patrols," it said.
Several major markets in the city had already shut down through Sunday to "welcome the Beijing Olympics," said the state-controlled Xinjiang news website Tianshan.net.
In Kashgar, scene of Monday's attack, authorities were tight-lipped on security plans for Friday.
However, rumours swirled throughout the tense city -- an ancient Silk Road oasis -- that authorities planned to ban cars from the road, close many businesses and order residents to stay indoors to watch Friday's night ceremony on television.
"We do not know what the plans are for tomorrow. We have not received the notices yet," said a press official with the Kashgar city government.
Xinjiang, a vast area bordering Central Asia, has about 8.3 million ethnic Uighurs, a Turkic-speaking people, many of whom express anger at what they say has been decades of repressive communist Chinese rule.
Authorities have said two Uighur separatists attacked a group of around 70 policemen with explosives and machetes in Monday's attack, killing 16 officers and wounding another 16.
The city came to a standstill Thursday as the government shut down traffic to remember those killed, with many Uighurs telling AFP they were ordered to take part in the hour-long observance.
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