Chinese authorities in the Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region have demolished a newly renovated mosque, resulting in a large-scale clash between local residents and police armed with tear gas and truncheons. Over 50 people were injured and two were killed, according to unconfirmed reports. Police arrested more than 100 protesters.
According to a Dec. 30 report by the Hong Kong based Information Center for Human Rights & Democracy, around 1,000 police were deployed to tear down a mosque in Hexi, Ningxia Autonomous Region. The reason given by local authorities was that the mosque was listed as an “illegal religious location.” Hundreds of ethnic Hui residents tried to stop the police. Fifty people were injured in the clash, and police detained over 100. The center quoted a local resident saying that two people had been killed.
Residents told New Tang Dynasty (NTD) Television on the telephone that police used truncheons and tear gas; a lot of blood was left on the ground and the area was blocked off, they said.
Asked if it was true that thousands of policemen were mobilized and people had been killed and injured, a Tongxin County staff member told NTD on the phone, “Only some troublemakers.”
The mosque was built with donations from Taoshan villagers, and a formal opening ceremony had been planned for New Year’s Day.
A Tongxin County official told NTD that the mosque was illegally built by the villagers.
Asked if it was built with privately raised funds, the official declined to answer.
Local resident Jin Haitao said on Tianya, an online forum, that his nearly 80-year-old grandmother was killed in the clash. Other injured residents were taken to Tongxin hospital for treatment, but it was difficult for relatives to see them as every ward was guarded by military police.
After he was interviewed by Hong Kong media, Jin could not be traced, NTD said in a Chinese language report on Jan. 4. Chinese authorities are blocking news about the Taoshan mosque, and calls to the Tongxin County Police Department went unanswered, the NTD report said.
Freedom of religion, although ostensibly guaranteed by the Chinese Constitution, is not respected by China’s communist authorities. Religious worship is strictly controlled by the Party, which forces all churches to register in a state-sanctioned system where leaders must pledge allegiance to the Party as the highest authority. Worshippers in underground house churches are faced with continual repression, while Party members are required to be atheists.
