Remember Guantanamo Release of 17 Urumqis?

URUMQI, China (CBS/AP) – Police fired tear gas to try to restore order as hundreds of Han Chinese armed with clubs marched through the Xinjiang capital of Urumqi, smashing shops and knocking over food stalls run by Muslims.

Urumqi is the capital of the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region

The city, where rioting and ethnic clashes killed 156 people two days ago, was extremely tense, with security officials breaking up a separate protest by the train station. Also, Muslim women in traditional headscarves faced off with armed Chinese police, wailing for the release of their sons and husbands detained after the riots.

Police used loudspeakers to appeal to the Han Chinese crowd to stop, but a group of about 300 protesters were joined by two other columns of marchers on Jiefang Nan Road. They appeared to be heading for the Grand Bazaar, the predominantly Muslim area of the city, but were blocked by police.

The crowd, which took up several blocks of the five-lane road, chanted “Unite” and “Modern Society,” and waved wooden sticks, lead pipes, shovels and hoes in the air. As they headed down a back street toward a mosque, several loud explosions rang out followed by rising white puffs of smoke — followed by the smell of tear gas.

China uncovers 7 terrorist cells in far west Xinjiang region this year