Members of one of China's most persecuted minority groups staged a peaceful protest outside the Chinese Embassy in London Wednesday to commemorate the sixth anniversary of a brutal clampdown on the cultural and religious activities of the Uighur population in China's northwestern region of Xinjiang.
About 20 Uighur exiles from Xinjiang--an area recognized as East Turkestan by many of the ethnically Turkic and mostly Muslim group--assembled at the embassy to remember those who died after Chinese security forces attempted to disperse a peaceful demonstration in Gulja (Yining) City in 1997.
"We want to stand here and remember those who were killed," said Enver Tohti Bugda, head of the Uighur UK Association, which organized the memorial. "Six years [ago] on this day Chinese authorities and the Chinese Liberation Army ended our peaceful demonstration."
The Gulja demonstration was mounted in opposition to a series of repressive measure imposed on the local population, including the banning of traditional Uighur social gatherings, called meshreps, the dismantling of the Uighur soccer league, and arbitrary arrests of local leaders.
As the protestors chanted religious slogans and demanded equal rights for Uighurs, police attempted to break up the crowd using tear gas and water cannons, according to information obtained by Amnesty International. Eventually, when the clashes escalated, some officers opened fire, killing and injuring dozens of people, although the exact numbers are unknown, said Amnesty in a statement released ahead of the sixth anniversary.
Eye-witnesses told the London-based group that 300-400 detainees, including children, were showered with cold water and left to stand in freezing winter temperatures for hours. At least two people died in police custody, and the whereabouts of up to 20 people sentenced to prison terms are unknown.
"Six years on, the victims of these tragic events continue to be denied justice," according to Amnesty, which has written to the newly-appointed chair of Xinjiang's regional government calling for an independent inquiry into the allegations of abuse and requesting more information on those still held in prison.
"Impunity for those who perpetrated serious human rights violations will only fan the flames of further unrest and instability in the region," Amnesty stressed.
Tensions between the Uighur population and Chinese authorities began in 1949, when China annexed the independent East Turkestan Republic and renamed it Xinjiang, meaning 'New Territory.' Since then, millions of Han Chinese--the country's majority ethnic group--have been encouraged to settle in the region, which, according to official government figures, is home to over eight million Uighurs.
Unemployment and lack of educational opportunities have plagued the region's indigenous population, said Bugha, who added that Uighurs were also subjected to religious persecution, being unable to worship freely, unlike other Muslim minorities elsewhere in the country.
While government representatives at the Chinese Embassy in London failed to comment on Wednesday's vigil, in an official report published last January, Chinese authorities described the February 1997 incident and its aftermath as a "serious riot" organized by a militant group of East Turkestan Islamists, now classified by the United Nations Security Council as a "terrorist organization."
Amnesty disputed that finding, accusing the authors of the report of failing to provide evidence of terrorist involvement in the incident. "This appears to be yet another example of the authorities using the subjective yardstick of 'terrorism' to justify repression...against people attempting to exercise their fundamental human rights," it said.