Global Courant 2023-05-30 19:05:00
BEIJING – China deployed hundreds of police officers and made arrests in a predominantly Muslim southwestern city after clashes broke out over the planned partial demolition of a mosque.
The city of Nagu, in Yunnan province, recently went ahead with plans to level four minarets and the domed roof of Najiaying Mosque, a resident said Monday, requesting anonymity.
The area is home to a sizable enclave of Hui, a predominantly Muslim ethnic group that has come under pressure from widespread repression.
On Saturday, dozens of officers with batons and riot shields repelled a crowd outside the mosque who hurled objects at them, videos circulated on social media and the witness said.
“They want to continue with forced destruction, so the people here stopped them,” a woman who also asked not to be identified told Agence France-Presse.
“The mosque is home for Muslims like us,” she said.
“If they try to overthrow it, we certainly won’t allow it,” she said. “Buildings are just buildings. They do not harm people or society. Why should they destroy them?”
Police have made an undetermined number of arrests in connection with the incident and several hundred officers have remained in the city as of Monday, the two witnesses said.
People in areas around the mosque have been experiencing intermittent internet outages and other connectivity issues since the clashes, she added.
A notice released on Sunday by the government of Tonghai, which administers Nagu, said it has opened an investigation into “a matter that has seriously disrupted social management and order”.
The message ordered those involved to “immediately stop all illegal and criminal acts”, vowing to “severely punish” anyone who refuses to turn themselves in.
Those who voluntarily surrender before June 6 will be treated with clemency, the notice added.
An official from Tonghai’s publicity department, contacted on Tuesday, denied the internet outages but declined to comment further.
