China’s state broadcaster, CCTV, has pulled coverage of Sunday’s Premier League game between Arsenal and Manchester City from its scheduled, following comments made by Mesut Ozil.
Ozil had in a social media post on Friday, criticised the killing of Uighur Muslims in China.
The former Werder Bremen player, who is a Muslim, called Uighurs “warriors who resist persecution”.
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He also criticised the silence of Muslims globally to the incident.
Arsenal distanced the club from the German’s comment, saying it was “always apolitical as an organisation”.
The Global Times described Ozil’s comments as “false”, and claimed he had “disappointed” football authorities.
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The Chinese Football Association also said the former Real Madrid player’s comments were “unacceptable”, adding that it had “hurt the feelings” of Chinese fans.
Reports say CCTV then decided to show Tottenham against Wolves, instead of the Gunners’ home match with the reigning English champions.
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However, China has consistently denied mistreating Uighur Muslims in the country.
Rights groups say about a million people, mostly from the Muslim Uighur community, are thought to have been detained without trial in high-security prison camps.
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China says they are being educated in “vocational training centres”, in order to fight violent religious extremism.
