At least 90 students, herders and ordinary residents have been arrested in Inner Mongolia, a rights group said, amid serious ethnic unrest fuelled by resentment over Chinese rule.

Around 40 ethnic Mongol students and herders were detained in flashpoint areas in the Xilingol area of the vast northern region, the US-based Southern Mongolian Human Rights Information Center said.

An estimated 50 students and residents were also arrested during several protests in the regional capital Hohhot last month, the rights group said late Sunday.

Calls to police in Hohhot and Xilinhot, a city in Xilingol, went unanswered.

The vast region of Inner Mongolia has been hit by a wave of demonstrations sparked by the May 10 killing of an ethnic Mongol protester who tried to block a coal truck driven by a member of China's dominant Han ethnicity.

The incident led to protests across the region. China moved swiftly to tighten security, including sealing off some restive college campuses, and residents in protest-hit areas have reported a tense calm has returned.

An employee at a hotel in Hohhot next to the city's main Xinhua Square told AFP Monday that roads were open but police were still patrolling the square.

The rights group said students were still confined to school campuses, in an apparent bid to avoid further unrest.

"Internet is cut off and cell phones are blocked. It is outrageous and boring," it quoted a student from the Inner Mongolian University of Agriculture as saying in an email.

"Anybody who wants to go out must get approvals from the school... and the security office."

There is simmering anger among ethnic Mongols over concerns that Chinese culture is swamping their way of life.

In particular, a Chinese government policy to move traditional Mongol herders off the steppe to preserve the grassland ecology is widely considered a pretext to seize lands holding coal and other minerals.

China has issued a series of promises to appease Mongol concerns, and the regional government said Wednesday grassland herders would receive subsidies to help spur their livestock production.

Meanwhile, the official Xinhua news agency reported that four people arrested over the death of the Mongol protester -- a herder -- have been charged and would face a public trial in Xilingol.

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