AhlulBayt News Agency (ABNA): Chinese state broadcaster CCTV has removed Arsenal's match against Manchester City on Sunday from its broadcast schedule after Mesut Ozil criticised the country's policies toward its Muslim Uighur minority on social media.
Ozil's posts called Uighurs 'warriors who resist persecution' and criticised both China's crackdown and the silence of Muslims in response.
'(In China) Qurans are burned, mosques were closed down, Islamic theological schools, madrasas were banned, religious scholars were killed one by one. Despite all this, Muslims stay quiet,' Ozil, who is a Muslim, wrote on his Twitter and Instagram pages.
The Chinese Football Association told government-backed news outlet, The Paper, on Saturday it was 'outraged and disappointed' by Ozil's remarks, describing them as 'inappropriate'.
'Ozil's comments are undoubtedly hurtful to the Chinese fans who closely follow him, and at the same time his comments also hurt the feelings of Chinese people. This is something we cannot accept,' the news outlet quoted an unnamed official from the association as saying.
The Global Times newspaper said on its official Twitter account on Sunday that CCTV-5 had removed the Gunners' huge clash with City from its broadcast schedule after Ozil's comments 'disappointed fans and football governing authorities'.
CCTV-5 will now show a taped match between Tottenham and Wolves instead. CCTV did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Following the German's outburst, Arsenal have also tried to distance themselves from the comments on Saturday.
'The content he expressed is entirely Ozil's personal opinion,' the official account of Arsenal Football Club said in a post on China's Twitter-like Weibo platform.
'As a football club, Arsenal always adheres to the principle of not being involved in politics.'
The club's Twitter account did not have a post addressing Ozil's comments as of Sunday morning.
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source : Daily Mail
Sunday
15 December 2019
2:51:53 PM
994035
Chinese state broadcaster CCTV has removed Arsenal's match against Manchester City on Sunday from its broadcast schedule after Mesut Ozil criticised the country's policies toward its Muslim Uighur minority on social media.