Vienna: Uyghur diaspora protest outside Chinese embassy to mark 13 yrs of Urumqi massacre

To mark the 13th anniversary of the Urumqi massacre, the Uyghur diaspora in Vienna organised a protest on July 7 in front of the Chinese embassy. This comes a day after another such protest was organised, where 12 to 15 members of the Uyghur Diaspora were seen carrying posters and flags condemning the massacre.

The president of the Uyghur community in Vienna, Mevlan Dilshat, informed that they have gathered to raise their voice against the massacre that took place on July 5, 2009, in Urumqi and to remember the ongoing genocide happening in East Turkestan.

Several such protests were also held in other cities around the world, including Dhaka and Narayanganj in Bangladesh. On July 5, members of the Australian Uyghur Tangritagh Women's Association (AUTWA) protested outside Rundle Mall in Adelaide city. 

China has been a major reason behind the human rights abuses against the community, which includes genocide, mass arbitrary detention, forced labour, torture, forced sterilisation, and destruction of minority culture. 

The Urumqi massacre

On July 5, 2009, a massive riot had broken out in Urumqi, the capital of Xinjiang. Following this, the Chinese government had launched a crackdown against Uyghurs protesting against the killing of two Uyghurs. Thousands of protesters were killed and injured, while some went missing. As per an official data, a total of 197 people died, while 1,721 suffered injuries in the riot.

After this, Uyghur-run mosques were temporarily closed. By November 2009, more than 400 people were slapped with criminal charges for their actions during the riots, and nine were executed around the same time. By February 2010, around 26 had received death sentences.

(With Agency Inputs)

Image: ANI