Amid China’s ongoing crackdown on terrorism, which has been focused largely on members of the predominately Muslim Uyghur minority in the Xinjiang region, dozens in Urumqi have been detained in a fresh sweep on illegal religious activity. Reporting on the sweep, Chinese state media said that children had been “rescued” from the illegal religious schools known as madrassas. Reuters reports:
A sweep on illegal religious activity in the capital of China’s unruly far western region of Xinjiang has resulted in 190 children being “rescued”, along with the detention of dozens of people, a state newspaper said on Monday.
[…] Last month the government said it had “rescued” 82 children in Xinjiang’s capital Urumqi from religious schools known as madrassas, and that campaign appears to be continuing.
[…] The official Legal Daily said that in recent days there had been another sweep in Urumqi against the “three illegals” of illegal publicity materials, illegal religious activities and illegal religious teaching.
A total of 85 people have been detained and 190 children “rescued”, the newspaper said, without providing further details. [Source]
Beijing’s steadily escalating war on terrorism has included strict restrictions on Uyghur’s religious and cultural practices, the encouragement of inter-ethnic marriage in parts of Xinjiang, public sentencing rallies, nationwide and international propaganda campaigns, and hefty cash rewards for information on terrorism and religious extremism.