Hundreds of policemen were deployed and arrested after clashes around a mosque

The city of Naju recently accelerated a project to demolish four minarets and the dome roof of the Nagying Mosque. The area has a large community of ethnic Hui Muslims who are under pressure as part of a widespread crackdown.

Hundreds of police have been deployed and people arrested in a Muslim-majority town in the southwest of the country after clashes over plans for the partial demolition of a mosque.

Today, Monday, a resident, who asked not to be named, said that the city of Naju, located in Yunnan province, has recently accelerated the project to demolish four minarets and the roof of the dome of the Nagying Mosque. The area has a large community of ethnic Hui Muslims who are under pressure as part of a widespread crackdown.

On Saturday, dozens of policemen armed with batons and shields repelled the crowd gathered in front of the mosque and threw things at them, according to video clips that circulated on social media and the witness.

“They wanted to carry out the demolitions, so people went to arrest them,” said a resident who asked not to be identified.

“The mosque is our home for Muslims like us,” she added. “If they try to tear it down, we won’t let them.”

“A case that seriously disturbed the social order”

Police made an unknown number of arrests after the clashes and several hundred law enforcement personnel were still deployed in the city on Monday, according to the two witnesses.

They added that residents living near the mosque have suffered from internet outages and communication problems since Saturday.

The Tonghai district government, which administers Nago, said in a statement on Sunday that it had opened an investigation into “a matter that seriously disturbed social order.”

It orders those involved in these clashes to “immediately cease all illegal and criminal acts” and intends to “severely punish” those who refuse to surrender.

Cult surveillance has increased since Xi Jinping’s arrival

The statement said those who surrendered voluntarily to the authorities before June 6 would be treated leniently. When contacted, an official with the Communications Department of Tonghai denied any internet shutdown but declined to comment further.

Surveillance of all sects has increased since President Xi Jinping came to power a decade ago. Beijing says it wants to fight “terrorism” and extremism by suppressing Muslims.

Western studies accuse China of detaining more than a million Uyghurs and members of other Muslim ethnic groups since 2017 in the western region of Xinjiang. In recent years, many Western countries, including the Netherlands, Belgium, the United Kingdom, Canada, France and the United States, have denounced the “genocide” of the Uyghurs, through a motion of parliament or their government’s position.

Outside Xinjiang, mosques have been demolished or “forcibly renovated” to meet official Chinese aesthetic standards, said David Straub, a researcher at Britain’s University of Manchester Hui.