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Muslims protest against alcohol sales by Xian’s ‘halal’ restaurants

UCA News, 26 May 2015

1432536948 (1)UCA News  Large crowds of Muslims marched in the streets of China’s ancient capital Xian on Saturday night to demand the end of alcohol sales in halal restaurants.

In a rare large-scale protest in the center of a main Chinese city, hundreds of Muslims demonstrated, according to state media, although pictures on social media suggested crowds were in the thousands.

“For the sake of our next generation, Muslims and halal restaurants should be banned from drinking or selling alcohol,” read one banner.

Some demonstrators had heated arguments with halal shop-owners in Xian’s main Islamic quarter which is dominated by minority Hui Muslims in an area that includes the city’s Great Mosque, the oldest in China.

The district has become overrun with tourists in recent years, especially along the main street where Hui Muslims sell halal foods but critics say an increasing number have abandoned Islamic values by selling alcoholic drinks.

The protests have prompted debate on Chinese media with many Muslims calling on vendors to respect halal values, while many atheist Han Chinese have criticized what they say is an attempt to enforce Islamic law.

“A liquor ban at mosques is understandable, but a ban on a major street against non-Muslims that goes beyond halal food: is China a theocratic country?” asked one user yesterday on Weibo, China’s equivalent.

Earlier this month, Muslims in Xining further west in Qinghai province rioted and smashed up a halal bakery after spotting pork products in a delivery van outside.

A police investigation later led to the arrest of 11 of the rioters after concluding the bakery had done nothing wrong and that the delivery company had simply put halal and non-halal products in the same vehicle.

In Xinjiang, authorities earlier this month reportedly forced Muslim shopkeepers to sell cigarettes and alcohol, prompting China’s state media to respond that foreigners are exaggerating accounts of repressive policies in the restive region.

Xinjiang’s minority Muslim Uyghurs have been accused by the government of enacting an ultra-halal campaign to protest against the majority Han rule.

But exile Uyghur groups told ucanews.com that a hard line on halal is necessary because of low food safety standards in China, where there is still no centralized halal authority.

“The understanding of halal food is still limited [in China],” Fan Bao, deputy director of the Beijing Ethnic Affairs Commission, told the state-run China Daily at the end of last year. “Many people think that everything that is not related to pork is called halal food.”

http://www.ucanews.com/news/muslims-protest-against-alcohol-sales-by-xians-halal-restaurants/73657