A popular online community for Chinese Muslims has been closed after posting a petition asking President Xi Jinping to quit his "brutal suppression of activists."

The students who wrote the petition told media that they had demanded that the Chinese government immediately release all the activists that have been put in detention.

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"You are not responsible for all the crimes of the totalitarian system, but as the head of the totalitarian system and it's commander-in-chief of repression, you must take responsibility for the blood and tears which now flow," the letter to the president said.

"In the next spring of China's new Jasmine Revolution, who will drive your tanks to crush us, the new generation of students after 1989?" the letter went on.

According to Yu Suleiman Gu, a Muslim student studying at the University of Georgia, the website, called Zhongmu Wang or 2muslim.com, was shut a day after he posted the letter to a forum that had in the past held sensitive discussions on issues such as persecution of Muslim dissidents in China.

The letter gained attention when screenshots of it were posted to China's version of Twitter, Weibo, by Xi Wuyi, a professor of Marxism at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences.

Xi Wuyi said that the letter was a proof that the site supported separatists in China's restive Xianjiang province.

Xianjiang is home to approximately 10 million ethnic Uighur minorities. Violence in the province has killed hundreds of people, with the Chinese government attributing it to 'Islamic extremism' and foreign influence.

"The Chinese government is very hostile to the Muslims inside China, especially the ones in Xianjiang," Antony Chang, who co-authored the letter, said.

Since 2003, the website has functioned as an "online network of Muslims sharing Islam." But as of Wednesday, it was no longer accessible.

China officially has more than 23 million Muslims, although some independent estimates said they could exceed the 50 million mark.

Although China's constitution protects freedom of religious beliefs, authorities keep a tight leash on it. Only five belief systems are currently recognized in the country, and their messages are closely monitored.

TagsInternet, Asia Pacific, Islam, President Xi Jinping, china