China: Just up and closes down mosques in advance of Olympics

Terror threat to games: China shuts 41 mosques.

Chinese authorities have replaced top police and security officials in the Muslim dominated Xinjiang province, which is the hotbed of separatism and political violence. They have also closed down 41 "illegal" places of worship. These places of worship were used as training ground for conducting a "holy war", Chen Zhuangwei Chen, the police chief of Urumqi, capital of the Xinjiang province, said.

Uighurs.

Why were the police and security officials removed from their posts? The central government was "unhappy" with their inability to "put down" the surging separatist movement in the province.

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