Urumqi, July 10 (Xinhua) Some mosques in Xinjiang’s capital Urumqi were closed Friday following Sunday’s deadly riot that left at least 156 people dead, a Chinese official said.
All five major mosques near the Southern Jiefang Road, centre of Sunday’s violence, were closed Friday morning.
At the Baida Mosque, an imam (cleric) said the place had been closed “for safety considerations” and advised people to perform the prayer at home.
Some smaller mosques, however, remained open Friday morning and were seemingly prepared for the Friday prayer.
“Mosques in some sensitive areas were closed at their imam’s suggestion,” said an official in charge of religious affairs with the Xinjiang regional government.
It is not immediately known how many mosques would remain open for the Friday prayer, the official said.
But the official said mosques in other prefectures would all be open.
Major streets in Urumqi were peaceful Friday, though security was tight and most roadside stores remained closed.
The riots started in Urumqi, capital of the Xinjiang Uighur Autonomous Region, Sunday when a group of protesters demanded an investigation into the death of two ethnic Uighurs who died during a fight with Han Chinese workers at a toy factory in late June.
Chinese authorities say 156 people died in the subsequent rioting and around 1,500 people were arrested.
However, Uighur groups put the death toll as high as 840. They also say that the majority of the dead were Uighurs.
Chinese President Hu Jintao cut short his stay in Italy and left for home early Wednesday without attending the G8-G5 summit following the violence in Xinjiang region.