The government said clashes Sunday and Monday in Urumqi between Uighur protestors and riot police as well as attacks on civilians, left at least 156 people dead and 1,080 injured.

Wang Lequan, the regional secretary of the Communist Party, said a curfew from 9 p.m. Tuesday to 8 a.m. Wednesday was imposed to 'avoid further chaos'.

'Ethnic confrontation should be definitely prohibited,' Wang said in a televised speech.

Paramilitary police had struggled to restore order as more Uighurs, a Turkic-speaking Muslim group that accuses Beijing of discrimination, protested and thousands of Han, China's majority ethnic community, staged a counter-march Tuesday.

The Han protestors reportedly pushed through police lines carrying sticks, metal poles, knives and other weapons, shouting slogans including, 'Protect our home; protect our family members'.

The Munich-based World Uighur Congress said late Tuesday that groups of Han Chinese had attacked and killed some Uighurs, but the report could not immediately be confirmed.