CALGARY—In response to a call by the World Uyghur Congress (WUC), Uyghurs around the world have been organizing protests in front of Chinese embassies and consulates in several countries to protest acts of violence against Uyghurs in Xinjiang and Shaoguan, China.
The WUC has condemned what it calls the Chinese regime’s “biased ethnic policies,” which it believes to be the cause of the recent “bloody racist attack on innocent Uyghurs.”
In Calgary Wednesday, local Uyghurs gathered at the Chinese consulate to appeal to the world for help and to speak out against the heavy-handed reaction by Chinese troops to a peaceful protest by Uyghurs in Urumqi.
“After the protest started, the Chinese soldiers started shooting randomly,” said Uyghur spokesperson Sammie Arslan, recalling video evidence and eyewitness reports that his sources in the area had relayed to him.
“More than 500 people died there. The Chinese government captured more than 3,000 people and sent them to prison. There are more than 1,500 injured people. After this, the Uyghur kids and wives protested this and the Chinese government then shot at the women and children. Then it started in Kashgar and Ghulja (Yining),” Mr. Arslan said.
The regime has imposed martial law and deployed more than 70,000 troops to Kashgar and 30,000 to Urumqi. According to news reports, house to house searches are being conducted and there have been scores of arrests. The death toll is estimated by Uyghur sources in China to be over 1,000.
Demonstrators protested the Chinese regime’s unfair treatment of Uyghurs during a violent clash between ethnic Han and Uyghur Chinese at a toy factory in Shaoguan.
The WUC has condemned what it calls the Chinese regime’s “biased ethnic policies,” which it believes to be the cause of the recent “bloody racist attack on innocent Uyghurs.”
In Calgary Wednesday, local Uyghurs gathered at the Chinese consulate to appeal to the world for help and to speak out against the heavy-handed reaction by Chinese troops to a peaceful protest by Uyghurs in Urumqi.
“After the protest started, the Chinese soldiers started shooting randomly,” said Uyghur spokesperson Sammie Arslan, recalling video evidence and eyewitness reports that his sources in the area had relayed to him.
“More than 500 people died there. The Chinese government captured more than 3,000 people and sent them to prison. There are more than 1,500 injured people. After this, the Uyghur kids and wives protested this and the Chinese government then shot at the women and children. Then it started in Kashgar and Ghulja (Yining),” Mr. Arslan said.
The regime has imposed martial law and deployed more than 70,000 troops to Kashgar and 30,000 to Urumqi. According to news reports, house to house searches are being conducted and there have been scores of arrests. The death toll is estimated by Uyghur sources in China to be over 1,000.
Demonstrators protested the Chinese regime’s unfair treatment of Uyghurs during a violent clash between ethnic Han and Uyghur Chinese at a toy factory in Shaoguan.
A WUC statement said that thousands of Han Chinese workers who were carrying metal pipes, knives, and bricks, attacked Uyghur workers at the toy factory in reaction to a rumour that Uyghur men had sexually molested Han Chinese female workers.
According to Xinhua, the Chinese regime’s mouthpiece, the clash left two Uyghur workers dead and 118 workers injured. However, Mr. Arslan says as many as 50 Uyghurs were killed.
“Our east Turkestan people got angry about this thing because they didn’t tell the truth and they wanted to protest it.”
Appeal to the World
Another speaker, Remila Abulimiti, who has two children in China, was crying as she delivered a message she hoped the world would hear.
“I’m very sad. Chinese kill our people, young people…women…children…I want to stop the killing. I have two kids in China. I don’t know if they are alive or dead. Please help us! I have two kids there—I haven’t seen them for seven years. They didn’t give my daughters passports. Now, I don’t know what is happening to my daughters. I don’t know because they block Internet, cell phones, everything that lets us connect with them. They cut off everything.”
Speakers listed a litany of abuses by the regime, and emphasized that state-controlled media has painted the Uyghur people as barbaric and aggressive toward the Chinese and deserving of retribution. Beijing has traditionally labelled Uyghurs as a terrorist group.
“We have no means of fighting back, not even intellectually. We don’t have force. We don’t have a say because we don’t have the force,” Mrs. Abulimiti said.
Mr. Arslan said the regime uses intimidation tactics against Uyghur communities overseas as well as in China, and that Uyghurs living overseas have been threatened with retaliation against their family members in China.
He has experienced this himself firsthand.
“Four years ago my wife arrived [in Canada]. The Chinese government called me and said, ‘If you and your wife don’t return here immediately, it is not a good thing for your kids here.’ They threatened us. After a few months our kids were killed by the Chinese government because we didn’t return.”
He said that even if both parents live abroad, children under 18 are not allowed to get a passport or leave the country.
“Right now, I have one daughter there and she is scared that she can be killed at any time. Right now these people have kids over there—some of them are in prison, and some are just kept in the country. They are not allowed to leave.”
Another speaker, Ray Kaplan, an engineering student at the University of Alberta, said Chinese agents overseas use threats to deter Uyghurs from attending protests.
“There are some Uyghur students who don’t attend because of the fear of that—there should be three times the amount of people than there are here today,” he said.
“Can you imagine the psychological warfare that they are applying to those people? It is not only in China, but also outside of China. It’s horrible. It is beyond fascism—it’s fascism beyond the state. But there are so many things going on in the world that it’s hard to know about this, so we are trying to make the world look at it.”
Mr. Kaplan also said that there have been recent cases of executions of Uyghurs.
“They beheaded some students, some female students. Recently they are beheading students and hanging them in public, showing them as an example. It is very hard to find information, but we know from our inside sources.”
Genocide
Mr. Arslan explained that the recent violent reaction by the regime should not be viewed as an isolated event but as an element of a premeditated genocide.
“The reason we are here is that the Chinese are killing Uyghur people. It is not only for today—it is a plan of killing Uyghurs systematically.”
Mr. Kaplan said access to education is restricted for Uyghurs—another impediment to getting their story out to the world.
“The Chinese authorities don’t let Uyghurs themselves get educated. There is no freedom of speech. They don’t let them go forward, to the point where they even encourage them not to go to school.”
Since coming to power, the communist regime has suppressed traditional religious and cultural traditions and made an intensive effort to have Han Chinese move to the area and displace the Uyghur minority.
According to Amnesty International, in 1949 Uyghurs accounted for at least 93 percent of Xinxiang’s population; today it is roughly half Uyghur and half ethnic Chinese.
“They bring in these people, the Han Chinese. They relocate them, promising higher-paying jobs while the [Uyghurs] themselves don’t have any such things,” Mr. Kaplan said.
“There are so many other things—there’s nuclear testing, there’s mutations, abnormalities, sterilizing agents in the water so the males can’t reproduce, forced abortions…the list goes on. We’re second-class citizens in our own homeland. It’s a horrible thing.”
He said propaganda disseminated by state media against the Uyghur population has roused hatred in many Chinese people.
“Not only do they suppress their own people, they’re brainwashing their own people. That’s why civilians are among the riot police that were attacking Uyghurs. And the Chinese media then changes it around to sound like ‘poor Han Chinese.’ It’s just ridiculous.”
Many who attended the protest worry that unless the international community steps in, the unique ethnicity and culture of the Uyghurs are in danger of being wiped out.¨
“The region is Turkic, Mongol, ancient Scythian” said Mr. Kaplan. “They’re not Han Chinese. That’s why their features look a little Caucasian. They’re a unique mixture. That’s what they are. They have a unique personality, individuality, and history. They are a very interesting people with an interesting history.”
To protect the speakers’ identities, some of the names used here are fictitious.
Since coming to power, the communist regime has suppressed traditional religious and cultural traditions and made an intensive effort to have Han Chinese move to the area and displace the Uyghur minority.
According to Amnesty International, in 1949 Uyghurs accounted for at least 93 percent of Xinxiang’s population; today it is roughly half Uyghur and half ethnic Chinese.
“They bring in these people, the Han Chinese. They relocate them, promising higher-paying jobs while the [Uyghurs] themselves don’t have any such things,” Mr. Kaplan said.
“There are so many other things—there’s nuclear testing, there’s mutations, abnormalities, sterilizing agents in the water so the males can’t reproduce, forced abortions…the list goes on. We’re second-class citizens in our own homeland. It’s a horrible thing.”
He said propaganda disseminated by state media against the Uyghur population has roused hatred in many Chinese people.
“Not only do they suppress their own people, they’re brainwashing their own people. That’s why civilians are among the riot police that were attacking Uyghurs. And the Chinese media then changes it around to sound like ‘poor Han Chinese.’ It’s just ridiculous.”
Many who attended the protest worry that unless the international community steps in, the unique ethnicity and culture of the Uyghurs are in danger of being wiped out.¨
“The region is Turkic, Mongol, ancient Scythian” said Mr. Kaplan. “They’re not Han Chinese. That’s why their features look a little Caucasian. They’re a unique mixture. That’s what they are. They have a unique personality, individuality, and history. They are a very interesting people with an interesting history.”
To protect the speakers’ identities, some of the names used here are fictitious.
