A police helicopter hovered above and SWAT units armed with guns patrolling the downtown streets as tension remained in the capital of northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region.
Calm was somehow restored in the city with the heavy presence of armed police but scars left by a deadly riot were easily seen near the People's Square, where a bloody violence killed at least 184 people.
Many citizens stared at the People's Square from far away Sunday to mourn for the loss of so many innocent lives. They were observing the "First Seven" or "first week", a tradition of Han ethnic to burn incenses and lit candles as a remembrance and consolation to the spirit of their newly deceased relatives.
As dusk befell in Urumqi on the day of remembrance of the dead, memories of the bloodiest riot resurfaced in the city, which is home to about 2 million people of different ethnics, mainly Uygurs and Hans.
For people like Zhang Zhong, the city of Urumqi has turned "totally unattractive" after the deadly violence.
"I have lost the sense of security here," said Zhang, who sat on the stairs of a beverage store near the square, "If I had not bought a house in Urumqi, I would have already left here after the riot."
Zhang folded the yellow paper into triangle shape, laid it on the floor but did not burn the incenses according to Chinese tradition.
"The gaze by armed police makes me feel that how desperate our city needs to return to tranquility," Zhang said.
However, he decided to give up his incense-burning mourning for the many victims. "I can't add to their nerves or even the fluctuation of emotions with my acts," he explained.
More citizens just sat on the stairs or stood by roadside and stared silently at the square, where joyful activities like dancing and singing used to be its trademark scene before the violence struck the city last Sunday.
"The police patrolling and guarding the square makes me feel safe for the moment," said Wang Su, who sat several meters away from Zhang on the stairs near the square. "I won't come here but for the presence of police."
"Those extremists killed innocent people," said Wang, who works for a local private company, adding: "Their brutality and atrocity belongs to no ethnic groups, but to the most extreme and ugliest part of human being."
Wang said he and many others had never witnessed such a heavy presence of armed police in Urumqi but he understood the necessity to deploy so many police here after the worst and the bloodiest violence erupted in the autonomous region since the founding of the People's Republic in 1949.
"At this moment, such deployment declares the government's determination to control riot and it brings the sense of security we need here," Wang said.
(Xinhua News Agency July 13, 2009)
