Beijing, January 03: Hundreds of Muslims fought with armed police who demolished a mosque in China’s northwest, local police and a human rights group said on Monday, with several people injured in the “riot”.
The violence between local Muslims and roughly 1,000 armed police began after police declared illegal a newly built mosque in the Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region and moved to destroy it, the Information Center for Human Rights and Democracy, in Hong Kong, said.
Two people were killed and 50 injured after police fired tear gas and used knives and batons to beat back ethnic Hui Muslim protesters in Taoshan village, Hexi township, the rights group said, citing villagers. Hexi township police denied any deaths when reached by telephone.
A policeman surnamed Ma confirmed that the mosque was torn down. He told AFP a “riot” occurred in Hexi on Saturday afternoon.
“Two police officers and two villagers got injured and several villagers were taken away by the police, but I don’t know how many,” Ma said.
The Hong Kong-based rights group said in a fax that Muslims from Ningxia and the neighbouring province of Gansu had donated money to build the mosque.
-Agencies