Xinjiang Muslims attend Friday prayer

(Xinhua)
Updated: 2009-07-11 01:06

URUMQI: Mosques opened Friday for prayers in most places in northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, except for the capital Urumqi where some were shut for security reasons.

Ethnic Uighurs start to leave a mosque after Friday prayers in Urumqi, in China's Xinjiang Autonomous Region July 10, 2009. [Agencies]

The Id Kah Mosque in Kashgar City, China's largest mosque, received about 3,000 prayers Friday afternoon, with Armed Police and about 20 police vehicles guarding the square.

The main gate of the mosque was closed, while two side doors were open for the congregational prayers who entered at about 2:50 p.m. after going through security checks.

Some others prayed in the sun outside the mosque. The service ended at about 3:50 p.m. Customers swarmed into shops after the ritual. Foreign visitors were seen in the streets.

Some mosques in Urumqi were closed Friday and Muslims were told to perform their weekly congregational prayer at home following Sunday's deadly riot.

All five major mosques near the Southern Jiefang Road, center of the Sunday violence, were closed Friday morning.

Outside the Baida Mosque, at No. 441 Southern Jiefang Road, an imam explained that the place had been closed "for safety considerations" and advised people to perform prayers at home instead.

"Mosques in some sensitive areas were closed at their imams' suggestion," said an official in charge of religious affairs with the Xinjiang regional government. "Muslims normally perform rituals at home in time of plague or social unrest."

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