EMERGENCY ATTENTION: Medical workers clean a suspected syringe wound on a boy in a hospital in Urumqi on September 8 (WANG FEI)

Social order has been restored in Urumqi, capital city of China's northwest Xinjiang Uygur Autono-mous Region, after deadly massive protests that were triggered by the syringe stabbings of innocent people quieted down. Two local leaders were removed as a sign of government action.

Authorities said local hospitals had dealt with 531 possible victims of hypodermic syringe stabbings as of September 3, of whom 106 showed obvious signs of needle punctures. The first stabbing was reported on August 17.

Military medical experts on September 5 ruled out the possibility that radioactive substances, anthrax or toxic chemicals were used in the syringe attacks.

"Preliminary test results have shown that such possibilities can be ruled out," said Qian Jun, Director of the Disease Control and Biological Security Office within China's Academy of Military Medical Sciences, at a press conference.

Qian said he and five other military medical experts had examined the records of more than 200 victims since September 4. Samples had been sent to Beijing for further tests, he said.

Xinhua reported that most of the buses in Urumqi had resumed operating on September 5, some of which were even a bit crowded.

Urumqi Executive Deputy Mayor Zhang Hong told Xinhua the situation was under control on September 4, as there were no major protests in the city and small crowds gathering "in a few locations" were soon dispersed.

The Urumqi Municipal Government implemented 12-hour traffic control in the city's main streets on the evening of September 7. Xinhua reported more people on the Urumqi's streets and sporadic traffic congestion on September 8 after police lifted the travel restrictions. Public security officers were stationed on some buses.

The autonomous region's Public Security Department vowed to protect residents and maintain social order in a public notice issued on September 7.

Those who stab or hurt others, with whatever means they use, will be considered to have committed crimes and be punished according to law, the notice said.

Any citizen is authorized to bring to police suspects who are committing syringe attacks or fleeing the scene of the crime, the notice said.

Tens of thousands of people took to the streets of Urumqi during the first week of September to protest against syringe attacks and demand better security.

A massive protest on September 3 brought city traffic to a halt and forced shops on major commercial streets to close. Wang Lequan, Secretary of Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Regional Committee of the Communist Party of China (CPC), called on the crowds to stay calm and met five representatives of the public during the protest.

Urumqi's Party chief Li Zhi and the autonomous region's police chief Liu Yaohua were removed from their posts on September 5, based on a decision by the CPC Xinjiang Autonomous Regional Committee that was later approved by the CPC Central Committee.

A joint notice from the court, prosecutor's office and police bureau of Urumqi on September 6 said an attacker could face a life sentence or even the death penalty under a charge of spreading dangerous substances if the perpetrator causes harm. Even those using untainted needles to stab people can face a prison sentence of more than five years for causing public panic.

Lian Zhenhua, a law expert from the Xinjiang Academy of Social Sciences, said during an interview with China Central Television on August 7 that the charges against suspects in this case are clearly written in the Amendment to China's Criminal Law. "This stabbing orgy cannot be measured as a separate incident but as the continuation of the riots and the killing, smashing, looting and burning on July 5," said Lian.

Police have caught 45 suspects during the syringe scare. Eight people have been sent for forced drug rehabilitation program, according to Urumqi police authorities. Four more suspects involved in syringe attacks were prosecuted on September 7 after they were caught at the scene of a crime on September 3.

Suspect Abdurusul Abdukdale and three accomplices stabbed a woman surnamed Li in the neck with a syringe at about 10:30 a.m. in an underground passageway, said the people's procuratorate of the city. Another four suspects have already been prosecuted for endangering public security.