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following recent renovations."The apparent heavy‐handed response of local authorities appears to have resulted in several deaths, aswell as approximately 50 injured and 100 arrested," the group said."The OIC expresses its concern at the destruction of a place of worship and the loss of life, which isdeeply regrettable," it said.The group called on China to respect the rights of Muslims to construct and maintain their places ofworship, and to attend religious services freely.Professor Xia Ming, a political science teacher at the College of Staten Island in New York, said theChinese government is tightening control over ethnic minority regions, including the troubled region ofXinjiang, home to the Uyghur Muslim minority."The Chinese Communist Party is trying to eradicate the influence of religion and its power structures inethnic minority regions, because it is pursuing a policy of atheism," Xia said."This is doing great harm to ethnic minorities," he said. "Clashes are inevitable."He said if Beijing refuses to recognize religious diversity among China's ethnic groups, and denies themfreedom of religious belief, such clashes will only intensify in the future.China's Hui ethnic minority numbers around 10 million people, making it the country's biggest Muslimgroup.Islamic customsThe Hui are culturally more similar to mainstream Han Chinese than Xinjiang's Turkic‐speaking Uyghurpeople, but retain some Islamic customs like avoiding pork and circumcising male children.Ethnic tensions have nonetheless flared in recent years, notably in riots following a 2004 car accidentinvolving a Han Chinese and a Hui Muslim in the central province of Henan.And in 1993, a cartoon ridiculing Muslims led to police storming a mosque taken over by Hui innorthwestern China.China's atheist ruling Party maintains a tight grip on religious activities, in spite of promising freedom ofreligion via the Constitution, allowing only officially recognized religious institutions to operate.In Xinjiang, Uyghur children are banned from attending mosques until they reach 18, and are forced toeat during the fasting month of Ramadan, Uyghurs say.Xinjiang Party religious affairs officials involve themselves in every aspect of religious life, includingapproving sermons in mosques and dictating which interpretations of the Quran will be used.Reported by Fung Yat‐yiu for RFA's Cantonese service, and by Tang Qiwei for the Mandarin service.Translated and written in English by Luisetta Mudie.Page 30 of 161