Mesut Ozil has always been someone who has spoken his mind. Seldom has the Arsenal footballer minced his words and passed a few statements which have apparently backfired at him. Now a couple of days ago, the Arsenal footballer took to social media and raised his concerns on the policy of China towards Uighur Muslim Minority. This hasn’t surely gone down well with the fans in China as they went on to burn Arsenal jerseys in the country. The footballer has received a backlash from all quarters and the fans as they are quite disappointed with the statement. Soccer Player Mesut Ozil Uses Social Media to Speak Against China's Policies in Xinjiang.

Mesut Ozil took to social media and wrote on the backdrop of the flag of the short-lived East Turkestan Republic, an area that is now Chinese-controlled Xinjiang. “[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,” read his post.

 

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#HayırlıCumalarDoğuTürkistan 🤲🏻

A post shared by Mesut Özil (@m10_official) on

Now, this surely hasn’t down well with his Chinese fans as they lashed out at the footballer with nasty comments. A fan took to social media site called Weibo and posted a video of football shirts bearing Özil’s previous numbers lit on fire. A few other fans said they too planned to burn their shirts, while some said they planned to trash theirs. Some posted photos of Arsenal shirts or Özil’s jersey and wrote, “How disappointing.” China has repeatedly denied any mistreatments against Uighur Muslim minority.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Dec 17, 2019 11:35 AM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).