Other participants in the protest were detained by police for up to 15 days. The taxi drivers were protesting the high proportion of their fares taken by city authorities in Urumchi. The taxi drivers' protest occurred on October 1, China's National Day and a major holiday, when traffic would have been light. The swift, severe punishment was clearly intended as a warning against any kind of public protest in Eastern Turkestan. Uygurs seeking only to live with dignity continue to be killed, tortured and imprisoned on political grounds.
Every nation has a right to self-determination.
The UN has an important role to play in this matter of ultimately finding a just and lasting solution to the problem of Uygurs. Besides the UN, the appeal has been sent to United Sates, European and Middle East Governments. According to the Soviet Uygur Newspaper President Gorbachov, President Karimov of Uzbekistan and President Nazarbayev of Kazakhstan responded positively to an earlier appeal of the Uygur Liberation Organization. The Tarim Basin Project is mainly designed to increase agricultural production and rural income in the area through increased productivity on existing low-yield farmland, efficient development of unused wastelands and increased livestock production. The ethylene project, with a yearly capacity of 140,000 tons, is a joint venture between Eastern Turkestan and China Oil and Gas Corporation.