BEIJING: Police in the restive Chinese city of Urumqi ordered inhabitants to stay indoors on Thursday amid reports of fresh unrest in the capital of the mainly Muslim Xinjiang region, residents said.

They said the order came after reports of a protest march by members of China's dominant Han ethnic group, who had held angry demonstrations in July after riots by ethnic Uighurs that left nearly 200 people dead.

"The Han have staged a march so the police imposed controls and ordered us to stay indoors," Halisha, a Uighur eye doctor, told AFP by phone.

A shopowner located near the central Nanmen area said "many" people were still protesting in the late afternoon.

"I have shut my shop. I am afraid to go out. Many people are marching outside," the woman said before hanging up.

Nearly 200 people died in Urumqi in early July in the worst ethnic unrest to hit the country in decades.

Han Chinese staged counter-protests at the time, accusing security forces of failing to protect them.