Olympics add to security misery in China's far west

By Ben Blanchard

KASHGAR, China (Reuters) - There is little doubt that in large swathes of the world's most populous country, the Beijing Olympics are being keenly anticipated as a chance to show off China's new global standing.

But in the far-western region of Xinjiang, where Beijing has accused al Qaeda of working with ethnic Uighur militants to use terror to establish an independent state called East Turkestan, paranoia about security means there is little Olympic cheer.

Residents and rights groups say the last few months in the lead up to the summer Games, which open on August 8, have been marked by an increasingly heavy crackdown and an ever more onerous public security burden.

This week, soldiers and police lined the street in the Xinjiang city of Kashgar, whose population is mainly from the Muslim Uighur minority, and kept all but a carefully vetted handful from witnessing the Olympic torch procession.

Local people say they were told to stay at home, and were even barred from watching the torch's passage from their balconies. Shops were ordered bolted shut, prompting quiet yet cautious complaints from residents long used to tough restrictions.

"I'm going to lose two days of business, but what can I do?" said one Uighur man who declined to be identified. He runs a small convenience store on Kashgar's main street, eerily deserted ahead of the relay, which passed without incident on Wednesday.

"Of course, I think it's a good thing the torch is coming here," he added hastily, wearily eying a police car parked across the road.

Xinjiang is home to 8 million Muslim Uighurs, many of whom resent the growing presence and economic grip of Han Chinese.