CFU Remembers 13th Anniversary of the Urumchi Massacre

  • July 5, 2022

CFU Press Release
For Immediate Release
July 5 2022, 10:00 AM
[email protected]
campaignforuyghurs.org

Campaign for Uyghurs (CFU) remembers the July 5th, 2009, Urumchi Massacre on its 13th anniversary. Thirteen years ago today, the Chinese regime turned a peaceful protest into a massacre, with Chinese police shooting at barehanded Uyghur youth on the streets. Thousands more were disappeared and days later, Han Chinese stormed the streets to destroy Uyghur shops, homes and mosques, similar to what Nazis did to Jews during Kristallnacht, “the night of broken glass,” in 1938.

Ten days after the slaying of Uyghur workers falsely accused of sexual assault on June 26th, 2009 at a toy factory in Shaoguan, Uyghurs in Urumchi took to the streets in protest, seeking justice. Police forces turned violent, firing on the protestors and beginning a mass campaign of killings, imprisonment, and disappearances. Chinese propaganda of the massacre said the majority killed were Han Chinese, laying the foundation for further oppression and the current genocide against Uyghurs.

What the Chinese government is doing in East Turkistan is state-sanctioned terrorism. Genocidal policies have detained millions of Uyghurs in concentration camps, and over a million trapped in forced labor schemes. Orwellian surveillance systems monitor every aspect of Uyghur life, from what they do at home to who they talk to on their phone.

Today, millions of Uyghurs are terrorized in their own homes. Torture and indoctrination are commonplace in concentration camps. Women have no bodily autonomy and are subject to systematic mass rape and forcibly sterilized. Uyghurs who leave the camps are often sent to forced labor factories or fields, where they make clothing or pick cotton.

Rushan Abbas, Executive Director of CFU, said, “The world no longer believes China’s whitewashed tales stating the CCP is innocent and a victim in the Urumchi massacre. While we mourn the past, we continue to fight for the living, fight for the future of this free and democratic world. Justice is on our side reclaiming this correct history. We labor ensuring those who perished in 2009 will not have sacrificed their lives in vain. With courage and hard work, justice shall prevail.”

The Urumchi Massacre is a reminder of the brutality of the Chinese regime, and the loss that Uyghurs have endured in the fight for equality. As a world built upon the principles of life, liberty and justice, there can be no bystanders. Genocide is the red line that the Chinese regime has crossed time and time again. We cannot continue to appease China through trade deals or diplomatic ventures as they commit genocide right in front of our very eyes. We need to remind ourselves of the conventions and agreements nations have signed onto and uphold them to the fullest degree if we are to have any moral high ground above despotic dictatorships.

Picture of Jacob

Sabrina

Campaign for Uyghurs

We defend the human rights of Uyghur people and the free world by exposing and confronting the Chinese government's genocide, and empowering Uyghur women and youth in the diaspora.

Donate Now

READ MORE

Forced Labor, Coercive Land-Use Transfers, and Forced Assimilation in Xinjiang’s Agricultural Production
Located in the northwest of China, Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region boasts long hours of sunshine and ample water for irrigation — making the region geographically ideal for growing cotton. Cotton grown in Xinjiang, which has good coloration and long fiber, is favored in both domestic and foreign markets.
‘This Has Been Delayed For Too Long’
Source: RFA Rushan Abbas, a former broadcaster for RFA’s Uyghur Service and the director of the U.S.-based Campaign for Uighurs exile group, recently testified at the U.S. Senate Committee on Foreign Relations in Washington about rights violations in northwest China’s
Uyghurs in Exile Launch Campaign Calling on China to Release Video of Missing Family Members
Source: RFA More than a dozen ethnic Uyghurs living in exile have called on China to release video of family members held in political “re-education camps” in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region (XUAR) after Chinese state media published what it
Tough Curbs on Burials
Source: RFA HONG KONG—Ethnic minority Uyghurs from the far-west Chinese city of Urumqi say authorities attach strict conditions when they release the bodies of Uyghurs who die in custody. Hundreds of Uyghurs were detained as part of a broad crackdown
I’ve fought China’s slow-motion genocide of Uighur Muslims. Now, my family are victims.
Source: USA Today   The world is finally waking up to the ongoing and terrifying violations of human rights against the Uighurs — a Muslim minority in Northwest China. My own family is victim to these violations. As both an American citizen and
Remarks by Ambassador Sam Brownback at Taipei Religious Freedom Conference
Remarks by Ambassador Sam Brownback at Taipei Religious Freedom Conference March 11, 2019 I would like to thank President Tsai’s comments and her for taking the time to be here out of her busy schedule. I can’t help but just
On Capitol Hill, persecuted Muslims unite to protect religious minorities’ rights
(RNS) — More than 125 members of the minority Ahmadi Muslim sect spent Monday (April 1) on Capitol Hill advocating for international religious freedom causes — particularly lending their voices on behalf of beleaguered Uighur Muslims. As part of its
As Countries Seek Trade With China, Imprisoned Uyghur Community Has Become “Collateral Damage”
China’s top trade negotiator is traveling to Washington this week as tension over trade intensifies between the two nations. President Trump is threatening to impose a 25 percent tariff on nearly all Chinese imports after the U.S. accused China of

STAY
INFORMED

Add your name to our mailing list so we can keep you updated about upcoming events, speciality drives, new initiatives and more.