Urumqi (China), July 10: The normally bustling mosques of China’s Urumqi city were ordered shut on the main Muslim day of prayer today with police out in force to prevent new outbreaks of deadly ethnic unrest.
Uighur Muslims said they had been directed to pray at home, as armed forces saturated the streets of the northwest Xinjiang region’s capital five days after clashes that authorities said left 156 people dead.
“The government said there would be no Friday prayers,” said a Uighur man named Tursun outside the Hantagri mosque, one of the oldest in the capital, as about 100 policemen carrying machine guns and batons stood guard nearby.
“There’s nothing we can do… the government is afraid that people will use religion to support the three forces.
–PTI