Thousands of Muslims gathered at a mosque in northwestern China on Friday to protest its planned demolition in a rare public pushback to the government’s efforts to rewrite how religions are practiced in the country.
T housands of Muslims gathered at a mosque in northwestern China on Friday to protest its planned demolition in a rare public pushback to the government’s efforts to rewrite how religions are practiced in the country.
A large crowd of Hui people, a Muslim ethnic minority, began congregating at the towering Grand Mosque in the town of Weizhou on Thursday, local Hui residents told The Associated Press by phone.
« People are in a lot of pain, » said Ma Sengming, a 72-year-old man who was at the protest from Thursday morning until Friday afternoon. « Many people were crying. We can’t understand why this is happening. »
Ma said the group shouted « Protect faith in China! » and « Love the country, love the faith! »
The protest comes as faith groups that were largely tolerated in the past have seen their freedoms shrink as the government seeks to « Sinicize » religions by making the faithful prioritise allegiance to the officially atheist ruling Communist Party.
