Thousands in mosque standoff in China over demolition plan

BEIJING (AP) — Thousands of Muslims gathered at a mosque in northwestern China on Friday to protest its planned demolition in a rare, public pushback to the government's efforts to rewrite how religions are practiced in the country.

A large crowd of Hui people, a Muslim ethnic minority, gathered outside the towering Grand Mosque in the town of Weizhou on Thursday, local Hui residents told The Associated Press by phone.

"We just won't let them demolish it," said Ma Sengming, a 68-year-old woman who said her daughter was at the protest outside the newly built mosque in the region of Ningxia.