BEIJING, July 7 (RIA Novosti) - Around 1,000 people took to the streets on Tuesday demanding the release of relatives arrested during inter-ethnic riots in China's Muslim Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, Xinhua said.

Western journalists who were on a tour of the capital reported, however, that around 200 women and children had blocked a street calling for their relatives' release.

The riots, which left 156 people dead, started in the regional capital of Urumqi on Sunday when a group of protesters demanded an investigation into the death of two ethnic Uighurs, who died during a fight with Han Chinese workers at a toy factory in late June. Around 1,500 people have been arrested.

Xinhua said that the protesting ethnic Uighurs attacked a number of Han Chinese, burning vehicles and attacking buses with sticks and rocks.

In contrast other media sources have reported that the ethnic Muslim protestors were attacked by Han Chinese.

Xinhua said some 1,080 people were injured in the clashes. Over 20,000 armed police were called in to stop the unrest.

Xinjiang's eight million Uighurs have complained of political, cultural and religious persecution by Beijing and there have been repeated calls by the Uighur community for more autonomy.