URUMQI, China (Reuters) – China sacked the top official of  the strife-torn city of Urumqi as well as the regional police  chief yesterday, as the town crept back to uneasy calm after  days of sometimes deadly protests that inflamed ethnic enmity.

The official Xinhua news agency did not explain why the  city’s Communist Party Secretary, Li Zhi, was replaced by Zhu  Hailun, head of Xinjiang region’s law-and-order committee.

But Li presided over the city during deadly unrest on July 5  when a protest by Muslim Uighurs, who call Xinjiang their  homeland, gave way to deadly rioting that left 197 people dead,  most of them members of China’s majority Han ethnic group.

Urumqi was put under heavy security again this week after  three days of fresh unrest, as thousands of Han Chinese  residents protested over a rash of reported syringe stabbings  they blamed on Uighurs, a minority in the city.

Officials said five people died in protests on Thursday.  Xinjiang police chief Liu Yaohua was replaced by Zhu Changjie,  party chief of Xinjiang’s Aksu Prefecture.

The sackings could feed more speculation about the future of  Wang Lequan, the regional Communist Party boss, who has barely  appeared in state media in the past couple of days, after he  pleaded from a balcony with Han crowds demanding his ouster.

“They should replace Wang Lequan … Of course this will not  be totally fair, but we wish to have a secure environment,” said  one resident, who did not wish to give his name.

Troops used tear gas to break up a group of people,  apparently Han Chinese, gathered near city government offices in  Urumqi on Saturday morning, Cable TV of Hong Kong reported.

But shops, buses and roads also began to come back to life,  watched over by thousands of police and anti-riot troops. Many  were posted at entrances to Uighur neighbourhoods.

The spasm of unrest has alarmed the central government,  coming less than a month before China marks the 60th anniversary  of the founding of the People’s Republic on Oct. 1.

Government warnings of stabbings fed an upsurge of fear and  anger among the city’s Han Chinese, culminating in the protests,  and talks of fresh attacks persisted.

But details of four indictments give little support for  government assertions that separatists coordinated what were  originally described as syringe attacks.

Three Uighur men and one woman were indicted on charges of  “endangering public security” connected with the spate of  stabbings, city procurator Udgar Abdulrahman said yesterday.  The arrest of four others was approved.