Security marks Silk Road torch relay

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China banned all but carefully chosen members of the public, such as Islamic leaders in headdress and children in traditional attire, from the relay route and ordered everyone else to stay at home and watch on television.

"We weren't allowed to go and see it," said a Uighur woman in the backstreets in the old part of the oasis city. "But even if we were, I think people would have stayed away anyway."

China has accused Uighur separatists in oil-rich Xinjiang of plotting attacks with al Qaeda's support to help achieve their goal of an independent country they call East Turkestan.

The torch relay was meant to be a symbol of national unity and pride for China, but it was dogged by anti-government protests on its international leg after the clampdown on rioting in Tibet. At home, authorities are at pains to ensure its smooth journey, especially in troubled areas such as Xinjiang.

As in Tibet, many Uighurs resent the migration of Han Chinese to the region and controls on their culture and religion.

Shops were shut in Kashgar as small groups waved Chinese and Olympic flags under a bright, clear sky. Between the groups, the streets were deserted.

At the start, Uighur children, some holding large flags, chanted "Go China, Go Olympics, Go Sichuan and Go Kashgar" in the square outside the giant Idkhar Mosque, closed to the public. The Sichuan mention referred to last month's devastating earthquake.

At the finish at People's Square, under a huge statue of Mao Zedong, the father of Communist China, Uighurs half-heartedly waved flags in marked contrast to relays elsewhere in China where joyous crowds have thronged the streets.

Everyone on the streets wore a sticker with a number and the Olympic flame in an apparent security measure, as soldiers lined the route at every 30 metres (yards).

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