Amid Strong Protests China Halts Mosque Demolition In Weizhou

Mosque demolishment plan has been delayed in China following sit-in protests by hundreds of ethnic Hui Muslims in the northwestern part of the country on Friday.

The newly-built mosque in Weizhou is an imposing white structure is crowned with nine onion-shaped domes, four towering minarets and crescent moons.

It is said to be the largest standoff by a crowd in the efforts of Chinese officials to clampdown on Islamisation.

Hui Muslims is the second largest Muslim group in the country. The largest is Uygurs of Xinjiang. The protestors gathered outside of Weizhou Grand Mosque from afternoon and remained there until late night when the local county head arrived with a promise that the structure would not be demolished until the plan to do so is reconstructed.

Lately Beijing is worrying about a trend of Arabization and Islamization in the region, the Tongxin county in the Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region.

In 2015 President Xi Jinping introduced a policy called Sinicise religion to bring in line religious groups with the Chinese culture.

On August 3 the Weizhou government issued a notice the structure would be demolished by August 10 as no necessary planning and construction permits were granted from the authorities.

The notice, addressed to management committee of the mosque, further added the government would forcefully demolish the structure if the committee failed to comply with the orders.