Radio Free Asia (RFA) reported (August 13) that a public toilet has been erected on the site of the demolished Tokul mosque in Atush (in Chinese, Atushi) city, Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region (XUAR). RFA said that during a recent telephone interview with an Uyghur neighbourhood committee chief from Suntagh village in Atush, a county-level city of about 270,000 people under the administration of Kashgar prefecture, the committee chief, who spoke on condition of anonymity, told RFA that Tokul mosque was torn down in 2018 and that a lavatory had been built in its place by “Han [Chinese] comrades.” He said, “It’s a public toilet … they haven’t opened it yet, but it’s built.” He added, “People have toilets at home, so there weren’t any problems like that.” He also said, according to RFA, that with Suntagh located about three kilometres (1.85 miles) outside of central Atush, the area sees few to no tourists who would require access to a washroom. RFA said that as part of the Mosque Rectification drive in the XUAR that began in April 2017, the authorities had razed two of three mosques in Suntagh village.
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