Protests in Brussels condemn Chinese violence against Uyghurs

SARAJEVO, (Patria) - A protest was held in Brussels, the capital of Belgium, where the torture and violence against Uyghurs in China were strongly condemned.

Activists and members of several associations and non-governmental organizations attended the protest held in Albertine Square.

About a hundred people gathered strongly condemned the oppression and torture of members of the Uyghur community in Xinjiang.

Demonstrators carried banners that read "Freedom for Uyghurs", "Stop Genocide" and "Close the Concentration Camps".

In their addresses, the organizers emphasized that China has imprisoned about three million Uyghurs in concentration camps, and that the Chinese authorities have tried to hide the existence of such camps from the rest of the world.

They further added that the establishment of such concentration camps represents a clear violation of human rights.

Abdulmutalip Omerov, president of the Uyghur Association in Belgium, said that the Chinese government is pursuing a repressive policy that prohibits Muslims from fasting and praying.

The autonomous region of Xinjiang is China's largest province, predominantly inhabited by the Muslim population, consisting of members of the Turkic ethnic community of Uyghurs and ethnic Kazakhs.

Chinese human rights organizations have been trying for some time to draw the international community's attention to the problem of the Uyghur community in Xinjiang, where millions of people are imprisoned in re-education and vocational training camps.

The international organization Human Rights Watch (HRW) stated in a report that many people in Xinjiang have ended up in detention in so-called political education centers in the past two years, referring to individuals whom the authorities deemed dangerous and ordered so-called preventive police action against them.

Official Beijing denies the existence of such camps in Xinjiang, and the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs claims that these are centers used exclusively for vocational training.