URUMQI, China (AFP/Reuters) - Five people have died in massive protests against syringe attacks in the restive Chinese city of Urumqi, an official said Friday. On Thursday, fourteen people were injured and sent to hospital and five people were killed in the incidents, including two innocent people, Zhang Hong, vice-mayor of Urumqi, told reporters. He declined to say what he meant by innocent and gave no further breakdown of who the dead were. One person was injured seriously on Wednesday when the protests first started, he added at a press conference. Security forces in far-west Chinas strife-hit city of Urumqi used tear gas to break up fresh protests on Friday, as thousands of Han Chinese demanded better security after a reported spate of attacks with syringes. The protesters massed in the streets in Urumqi, capital of the Xinjiang region, for a second day to protest that authorities were too slow to punish Uighurs, a Turkic-speaking Muslim people native to the energy-rich region, behind deadly riots on July 5. Police vans patrolled streets with loudspeakers, telling people to go home, and used tear gas to disperse some of the angry gatherings. But with schools closed and bus routes through the city interrupted by road blocks, many in the crowds had little to do but mill about and break off into brief protests. The main thing is, nobody here feels secure any more, said Zhen Guibin, a Han Chinese. The government has banned unlicensed marches, demonstrations and mass protests and will disperse or detain those who disobey, the official Xinhua news agency said. During Thursdays protests, crowds called for regional Communist Party boss Wang Lequan to resign. Wang, who has held the regions most powerful position for 14 years, had made no appearances in state media on Friday, as of early evening. Alarm spread in the city after government text messages a week ago warned of attacks with syringes. Some parents were afraid to send their children alone to classes when schools were open earlier in the week. These Uighurs have been stabbing us with needles, said a man trying to push through barriers sealing off a Uighur neighbourhood. We need to take care of the problem. Angry crowds confronted paramilitary troops and police at intersections, demanding more rights for Han people. A group of young Han Chinese men unfurled a Chinese flag and tried to lead a march to Peoples Square shouting safety. Police snatched away the flag, but the crowd continued shouting. The July 5 protest by Uighurs gave way to a spree of violence across the city in which 197 people were killed, most of them Han Chinese. Two days later, Uighur neighbourhoods were attacked by Han Chinese demanding revenge. Dilxat Raxit, a spokesman for the World Uyghur Congress, said pressure should be put on Beijing to open talks with Rebiya Kadeer, a Uighur leader who lives in the United States and who China accused of masterminding the July unrest. She has denied the charges. The Chinese have never been told to respect the Uighur people, he said by telephone. Uighurs have no feeling of security, not even at home. Li Zhi, Urumqis Communist Party boss called the syringe stabbings a grave terrorist crime and part of a plot by separatist forces to sow conflict, Xinhua said. The goal was to create ethnic division and stir up ethnic antagonism in a bid to overturn social order, split the motherland and split the Chinese nation, he said in a speech. China says Uighurs campaigning for independence is allied with the militants in the region. Deadly bomb attacks have occasionally hit government targets in Xinjiang. Xinjiangs population is divided mainly between Uighurs, long the regions majority group, and Han Chinese, many of whom moved there in recent decades. Most Urumqi residents are Han. The Xinjiang government, apparently trying to staunch anger, announced on Thursday that 196 suspects have been charged over the July riot. Fifty-one were indicted and will face prosecution. Some Han Chinese residents were unimpressed. I think the government has been way too lax towards the Uighurs, said a Han shop owner who identified himself as Zhang. This policy has got to change. We shouldnt have all these minorities. We should only have one Chinese ethnicity. Uighur residents said they were the victims of panic. There have been many Uighurs beaten up, said Arwa Quli, a Uighur woman who paused on her way to work to watch the crowds. If you just brush against someone, they might think that you tried to stab them. The Xinjiang health office has said that over the past two weeks 476 people have gone to hospital to report apparent syringe stabbings 433 of them Han Chinese. Regional television said doctors had found clear syringe marks in 89 cases. Rumours of AIDS patients attacking people with hypodermic needles have previously rattled parts of China, but were later shown to be unfounded.