Earlier, the news agency had reported that four people had been killed in Sunday's violence after nearly one thousand protesters - mostly from the Uighur ethnic group - overturned barricades, attacked bystanders and clashed with police. The protesters had gathered in the city of Urumqi to demand an investigation into a fight between Uighur and Han Chinese workers at a factory in southern China last month. Reports say Sunday's demonstration started peacefully but a protestor speaking to Associated Press over telephone said that the crowd soon grew to one thousand people and that when they refused to disperse, police pinned demonstrators to the ground before taking 40 away.

The state media reported that the protesters carried knives, bricks and batons, smashed cars and stores, and fought with security forces. A news director for the Xinjiang government Wu Nong said more than 260 vehicles were attacked and more than 200 houses damaged. According to participants and witnesses of the protest demonstration the situation appeared to subside after several hours of violence, as the police and military presence intensified into the night. An overnight curfew was imposed.

Xinhua reported that "the situation was under control" by Monday morning and that police had shut down traffic in parts of the city as a precautionary measure. The Xinjiang government has blamed the latest unrest on businesswoman Rebiya Kadeer, the Uighur leader who lives in exile in the United States. BBC reports that the Vice President of the US-based Uighur American Association, Alim Seytoff, condemned the 'heavy-handed' actions of the security forces. Terming it a dark day in the history of the Uighur people he said, “We ask the international community to condemn China's killing of innocent Uighurs.”

BBC reports say Xinjiang, a Muslim-dominated area, has been tense area for many years. It is also reported that some of its Uighur population want to break away from China.