URUMQI (China) - SOME mosques in riot-hit Urumqi have opened for Friday prayers, after notices said earlier they would be closed in the wake of ethnic violence that left 156 dead.

It was not immediately clear if there was a change of policy or if the mosques were opened because crowds had gathered outside. The Friday afternoon prayers are a focal point of the week for the minority Muslim Uighurs.

About 100 men gathered outside the White mosque, one of the most popular places to worship in the large Uighur neighborhood of Er Dao Qiao, demanding that it be open for prayers.

Separately, officials in Kashgar in southwestern Xinjiang have told visiting journalists that they and other foreigners had to leave the city.

The city's foreign affairs office says that although the city has had no unrest, the decision was made to ensure the safety of the visitors.

Those attacks were in revenge for the deaths of 156 people in Uighur rioting on Sunday, the region's worst ethnic violence in decades.

China's ruling Communist Party may fear that big Uighur religious gatherings could become another catalyst for unrest after a week of ethnic strife.

Uighurs, a Turkic people who are largely Muslim and share linguistic and cultural bonds with Central Asia, make up almost half of Xinjiang's 20 million people. -- AP, REUTERS