Remembrance of July 5th, 2009 Urumqi massacre in Zurich
Channel: Tenzin
Date: 2020-07-05

On July 5th, 2020 Tibetan activists staged a silent protest in Zurich to commemorate the 11th anniversary of the 2009 Urumqi massacre. They planned to hand over a letter of appeal and take a video statement in front of the Chinese consulate in Zurich but the Chinese consulate called the police on them, who stopped the activists from getting in front of the consulate. 

On July 5th 2009, several thousands Uyghurs peacefully protested in the city of Urumqi. They expressed their anger at the Chinese government’s inaction during the Shaoguan incident in which several Uyghurs were killed by a mob of Chinese factory workers. In the protest on July 5th, Uyghurs demanded to be treated equally and for their rights and freedoms to be respected. The Chinese government responded with hundreds of police men armed with shields, rifles and clubs who interfered in this initially peaceful protest and caused it to escalate. In the following two days, hundreds of protestors were killed or kidnapped by the Chinese government. Many families still do not have any information about the fate of their loved ones. 

Today, the CCP’s treatment of Uyghurs have morphed from systemic repression and discrimination, to total assimilation and demographic genocide.

“We want to show the Chinese government that we have not forgotten about the 2009 Urumqi massacre. We are here to stand in solidarity with our Uyghur brothers and sisters and call for an end of the gross human rights violation in East Turkestan, Tibet, Southern Mongolia, Hong Kong and China.” says the activist collective.