Yunnan: Tensions rising between the authorities and local Muslims after an imam is arrested
Scores of plainclothes policemen took the clergyman into custody while he was at a restaurant, sparking a protest by local Muslims in front of the town hall in the past two days. The province where a large Hui community lives has long been a hot spot for the government’s “sinicisation” policies.
Beijing (AsiaNews/Agencies) – The arrest of an imam in Yuxi, a city in the southwestern province of Yunnan, has once again sparked tensions between Chinese authorities and the local Muslim community.
Yesterday, at noon, some 60 plainclothes police agents surrounded a restaurant in the Hongta district, where they arrested Yuwei, an imam who was having lunch.
Eyewitnesses told Radio Free Asia’s Chinese-language service that restaurant employees and customers asked police to show a warrant, but were told just to “cooperate with the investigation”.
Some videos posted on social media show several agents taking away Imam Ma Yuwei; other images show Muslims praying in front of the town hall, demanding his release.
The demonstration reportedly continued today, with soldiers and security forces arriving from Kunming and southern Yuxi, cordoning off the protest area.
Ma Yuwei is the imam of Yuxi’s Daying Mosque and is highly respected in the community. In recent years, he has been subjected to close monitoring by the authorities and has received threats as the government intensified its crackdown on religious activities.
Given this situation, he and his family are said to have spent six months inside the mosque to avoid the security forces. His arrest follows the authorities’ decision to declare the Daying mosque a "place of illegal religious activity".
Last year, Yunnan – where Muslim Hui are the majority – saw violent clashes between Muslims and police over the Najiaying mosque, Tonghai County, after the authorities had the Arab-style dome replaced by one in a "sinicised" style, in accordance with President Xi Jinping’s nationalist religious agenda.
The transformation was not only one architectural. In Yunnan, mosques have come under pressure from the authorities to change their form of organisation.
"Now," a local source told Radio Free Asia, "there are no longer democratic elections, but appointments made directly by the Office for Religious Affairs and the United Front Work Department,” which has the task of "correcting" organisations and groups so that they follow the official line.
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25/04/2016 15:17
