Friday - July 10, 2009

Chinese authorities ban Uighurs from mosques .

They don’t claim to be a democracy and sometimes their way works best for them. So who are we to insist they change?
In this case, the only fault I can find with Chinese reaction is that the police did give in to 1,000 muzzies who “refused to disperse.” Now see that was a mistake.
A thousand. How hard would it have been to eliminate ALL of em? Now that this group sees a slight weakness (if that’s what it was) what’s their next demand going to be?  Reparations? 

Finish the job China, while you can.

Chinese authorities banned Muslims from gathering at mosques for Friday prayers in Urumqi in a bid to prevent any further ethnic violence in the Xinjiang region.

By David Eimer in Urumqi and Malcolm Moore in Shanghai
Published: 11:53AM BST 10 Jul 2009

However, Chinese police eventually agreed to open up at least two major downtown mosques after crowds of up to a thousand Uighurs refused to disperse without being allowed to pray.

The 200 or so mosques in the far Western city had been ordered to close their door to worshippers in the wake of race riots between local Uighur Muslims and the majority Han Chinese that have claimed at least 156 lives.

Friday prayers are a focal point of the week for Urumqi’s Uighur Muslims and the Chinese authorities imposed the ban in an attempt to deter any large emotional gatherings after a week of tension and violence.

Security teams circulated through the city’s Muslim quarters and told worshippers to stay away from mosques this week and to worship next week instead.

“For the sake of public safety all of the mosques have told people that there will be no Friday prayers and that people should stay at home today and pray,” said a government official at the Yang Hang mosque, the biggest mosque in the city with a capacity of around 3,000. A notice was pasted outside cancelling the prayers.

However, as midday approached, a small crowd of around 100 worshippers gathered outside the mosque and a further 50 to 100 people made their way into the inner courtyard. “It’s not necessary to close it because everyone who enters the mosque is a Muslim. It will be safe,” said one female worshipper.

The crowd ignored demands from the Chinese police to disperse and demanded the right to prayer. As tensions rose, the news of a dispute outside the mosque drew a crowd of around 1,000. Eventually, the authorities relented and an abbreviated prayer ceremony, with no sermon, was permitted.

Riot police and security forces stood ready nearby, but after the prayers, the crowds dispersed without any incident. Uighurs generally practice a moderate form of Sunni Islam that was prevalent in Central Asia under Soviet rule, although more militant and austere forms of Islam have made inroads in recent decades.

A similar scene played out in front of the White mosque, one of the most popular places to worship in the mainly Uighur neighborhood of Er Dao Qiao. A Uighur policeman guarding the mosque said the authorities had backed down from a ban and “decided to open the mosque because so many people had gathered. We did not want an incident”.

However, the majority of the city’s mosques remained shut. One Uighur man, who declined to give his name out of fear for his safety, was sitting outside the Kungui mosque. “If I have to pray at home, then I will. But don’t ask me my mood right now.”

The last time that Friday prayers were banned in China was in 2003, during an outbreak of SARS, the respiratory disease. However, Uighurs in Xinjiang are subject to a number of restrictions on worship, including a ban on anyone under 18 attending a mosque. The government also controls the appointment of imams.

Meanwhile, thousands of fearful people poured into bus and train stations yesterday (fri) in a mass exodus from the city. Officials said they had put on extra bus services out of the capital, but demand far outstripped seats and scalpers were charging up to five times the normal face price for tickets.

“It is just too risky to stay here. We are scared of the violence,” said Xu Qiugen, 23, a construction worker from central China who had been living in Urumqi for five years and was trying to buy a bus ticket out with his wife.

It came as the state media reported that families of “innocent” people killed in the unrest will each receive 200,000 yuan (£18,000) in compensation. Urumqi’s government will also provide 10,000 yuan (£902) towards each funeral.

The situation in Urumqi is now significantly calmer and the security forces which had flooded the city, some of whom had been sent to reinforce Urumqi from cities as far away as Shanghai, took pains to keep a low profile. In Kashgar, the second-largest Uighur city, foreigners have been asked to leave for their own safety.

The violence began on Sunday when Uighurs clashed with police while protesting deaths of Uighur factory workers in a brawl in another part of the country. The crowd then scattered throughout Urumqi, attacking Han Chinese, burning cars and smashing windows. Riot police tried to restore order, and officials said 156 people were killed and more than 1,100 were injured.

SOURCE

Posted by peiper     on 07/10/2009 at 10:10 AM   
Filed Under: • CHINA in the news •  
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