China says religion must obey Chinese law, paper says of mosque protest

A newspaper from the ruling Communist Party said Saturday that no religion is above the law in China, urging officials to stay firm while dealing with a rare protest over the planned demolition of a massive mosque in the northwest.
The Global Times said that that’s home to many ethnic minority hui muslims, must act against what it described as an illegal expansion of a religious building.

Thousands of Hui people gathered at the mosque on Thursday and Friday to prevent authorities from demolishing the structure, residents contacted by The Associated Press said. It was a rare, public pushback to the party’s efforts to rewrite how religions are practiced in the country.

“People are in a lot of pain,” said Ma Sengming, a 72-year-old man who was at the protest from Thursday morning until Friday afternoon. “Many people were crying. We can’t understand why this is happening.”

Dozens of protesters marched in Hong Kong on Tuesday to denounce plans that will allow Chinese President Xi Jinping to stay in power indefinitely. The pro-democracy demonstrators went to the China Liason Office to decry the move by the ruling Communist party to scrap presidential term limits. Pro-democracy legislator Kwok Ka-Ki, who led the protest, said the proposed constitutional changes will severely harm China’s development and urged people to oppose them. The proposal, which will be passed by delegates loyal to the party at next month’s annual meeting of China’s largely rubber-stamp parliament, is part of a package of amendments to the country’s constitution.

Authorities were clearly nervous about the unrest. Early Saturday morning, men in plainclothes, including one who identified himself as police, prevented AP reporters from conducting interviews at the mosque and chased them away.

Later Saturday, police stopped the reporters at a checkpoint in the direction of the mosque and detained them for more than an hour before ordering them to turn around, and tailing them with two cars to ensure they did not change course.

The residents of Weizhou were alarmed by news that the government was planning to demolish the mosque despite initially appearing to approve its construction, which was completed just last year.

This is both interesting to watch and see how it will conclude.