Recent syringe attacks in the restive Chinese region of Xinjiang were ”instigated by ethnic separatist forces”, Beijing’s security minister was quoted saying on Friday by state media.
Meng Jianzhu, who arrived in the regional capital Urumqi on Friday to defuse tension, said those responsible were trying to ”undermine ethnic unity”, he was quoted saying by the Xinhua news agency.
By official count, more than 450 people have been attacked in recent weeks with syringes in Urumqi, scene of deadly unrest in July pitting Han Chinese against Muslim Uighurs.
The report quoted Meng saying the syringe attacks, which have led to fresh protests in the city, were a continuation of the ethnic violence two months ago that left about 200 people dead, most of them Han Chinese.
”Maintaining stability is the central task of overriding importance in Xinjiang at the present time,” Meng reportedly said in a meeting with local officials.
He also warned ”those involved in violence, assaults, vandalism, looting and burning, and those who disrupt social order by different means or undermine ethnic unity, shall be punished according to the law without exception, whatever their ethnicity is”. — AFP
