China has cancelled a screening of an Arsenal football match after the team’s star midfielder criticised the treatment of Uighur Muslims, amid reports Beijing is increasing secrecy around its controversial internment camps.

Mesut Ozil had posted messages on Twitter and Instagram which described Uighurs as “warriors who resist persecution” and urged Muslims not to “stay quiet” about China’s crackdown on the minority group.

The football club sought to distance itself from those remarks, stressing that they were “entirely Ozil’s opinion” in a statement on Weibo, a Chinese website similar to Twitter.

But according to Bloomberg, China has responded by cancelling the screening of Arsenal’s match against Manchester City on CCTV, the Chinese state broadcaster.

Instead, CCTV broadcast a prerecorded game between Tottenham Hotspur and Wolverhampton Wanderers.