Marking the13th anniversary of Urumqi massacre, Uyghur diaspora organised a protest in front of the Chinese embassy in Vienna this week. There are also reports about such protest demonstrations in several cities across the world.  

A human chain was formed in Dhaka under the banner of the Bangladesh Social Activist Forum in support of minority communities on the Chinese mainland.

Also in Dhaka, a cycle race was organised to sensitise people about the Uyghur plight by the Bangladesh Sampriti Sangsad (BBSS) Welfare Forum.

At the Vienna show, the Uyghurs though few in number, had carried posters and flags condemning the Urumqi massacre that occurred on July 5. “It is also an occasion to remember the ongoing genocide taking place in East Turkestan,” said Mevlan Dilshat, who is the president of the Uyghur community in Vienna.

On July 5, 2009, violent riots broke out in Urumqi, the capital of Xinjiang province in the North-west China. The protests were a sequel to the death of two Uyghurs in police crackdown. In the aftermath of the riots, thousands   were killed, disappeared or injured. Official toll however was 197 dead and 1,721 injured. The security forces are charged with deliberately using live ammunition to quell the protests.

In Down Under, members of the Australian Uyghur Tangritagh Women’s Association (AUTWA) staged a protest outside the Rundle Mall at Adelaide; they asked the Australian government to ban import on goods manufactured by forced Uyghur labourers.

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