On China’s National Day, Protests Erupt In Several Countries Over Human Rights Violations
As Beijing gears to mark the 20th National Congress of the Communist Party of China (CCP), the communities which are suppressed through its draconian laws staged protests across the world. President Xi Jinping, who is expecting a third term, has been criticised widely for his anti-human measures in his own country and the neighbouring regions that it considers its own. In Japan’s national capital, hundreds of people took to the streets and expressed their solidarity with the people of Tibet, Xinjiang, Mongolia, Hong Kong and Taiwan on China’s National Day. The protestors also held a protest outside the Chinese Embassy in Tokyo with placards and slogans denouncing Beijing’s anti-human treatment. They urged the rest of the world to wake up to the harm China is causing. The demonstration was held around the twin themes of – ‘nothing to celebrate and ‘day of shame’, both sentiments that echo strongly not just in Japan, but increasingly across the world.
Apart from Japan, several protests were also organised outside the Chinese Embassy in Vienna, Austria wherein people appealed to the CCP government to uphold the minority rights in the Tibet region. Tibetan Diaspora along with President Nawang Lobsang Taglung of Tibetan organisation in Vienna held a symbolic protest. Similar protests were also witnessed in multiple areas of Paris. Protestors from different civil society organisations opposed the Chinese government-sponsored human rights violations and policy of aggression against various ethnic groups.
For the first time, the Netherlands also organised protests
Meanwhile, more than 100 persons from organisations like Students for Free Tibet (SFT), Committee for Liberation of Hong Kong, Association of Uyghurs in France, as well as Mongolian, Taiwanese and Vietnamese groups joined a large demonstration near the Chinese embassy. Marking the day as the Global Day of Action, the protesters, carried placards with slogans against China and demanded China end the Uyghur genocide and other violations against the people of Tibet, Hong Kong and Taiwan. In the Netherlands, several Chinese organisations such as the Chinese Democratic Party Overseas Committee, the Netherland for Hong Kong, Southern Mongolian Congress, The Church of Almighty God, and Human Rights Watch in China participated along with the Tibet Support Group in condemning the Chinese Communist Party. Notably, this was the first time when the Netherlands held a such protest in its capital city.
Meanwhile, protests were witnessed in major States across the United States including New York and California as also in Canada. In Istanbul city of Turkey, the Uyghur community marked the 73rd National Day of China as the beginning of an era of occupation, persecution, starvation and inhuman crimes against the peoples of East Turkestan. Uyghur NGOs protested near the Chinese Consulate in the Sariyer district of Istanbul against the Chinese policies of assimilation and genocide.
Why China is facing such criticism across the world?
It is worth noting that the Communist government in China has suppressed Xinjiang, Hong Kong and Tibet through its draconian laws over the years. Despite facing criticism, Beijing continues to suppress minority communities. In Tibet, the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) ruling the hilly region since it invaded the country in 1950. The local decision-making power is concentrated in the hands of Chinese party officials. The Xi Jinping-led- CCP government has also been involved in suppressing Uyghur Muslims in Xinjiang by sending them to mass detention camps. Several media reports have shown how China imposed forced labour, systematic forced birth control, and separated children from incarcerated parents. Irrespective of claims, China always denied such reports and called it a Western-sponsored agenda.
Image: ANI
