Authorities say Chinese mosque dispute 'under control'

BEIJING (AP) " Authorities say reckless actions by officials in China's Ningxia region were to blame for a rare public protest by the country's Hui Muslim minority over government plans to raze a mosque.

Ningxia's governor and a Communist Party official said Thursday tensions had died out in the city of Weizhou, where thousands protested earlier in August in a rare, public pushback against the party's efforts to dictate how religion is practiced.

Ningxia Communist Party official Bai Shangcheng told reporters that the local government had been ordered to review the incident and "handle it properly and according to law."

He said the "situation overall is under control."

A recent party crackdown on religious practice has seen mosques and churches stripped of religious imagery and Tibetan children moved from Buddhist temples to schools.