When: Friday, 5. February 2010 14:00 – 16:00
To: Friday, 5. February 2010
Where: Oslo, Chinese Embassy
Host: The Norwegian Uighur Committee
Contact: Semet Abla (semet.abla@yahoo.no / +47 404 62 747)
To commemorate this, the Noregian Uighur Committee invites all sympathisers to join them in a demonstration outside the Chinese embassy on Friday 5 February, from 14:00 to 16:00 hours.
The Uighurs are the original population, the indigenous people, of East Turkestan / the Xinjiang province of China. For many years, they have fought for an increased level of self-determination, for the right to practice their religious beliefs freely and openly, and for an end to discrimination.
5 February 1997, a peaceful demonstration was arranged in the city of Ghulya, for freedom of religion, equal rights and against racial discrimination. Between 10.000 and 15.000 people participated, when paramilitary police forces opened fire and killed at least 30 demonstrators and injured at leas another 100 more. Many of those who tried to run away from the shooting were arrested, and later subjected to torture. In the days that followed, several thousand uighurs were arrested, on suspicion of having taken part in the demonstration. Many of those have never returned or been seen again. Many were executed in summary trials, while others were sentenced to long prison terms.
According to Amnesty International, more than 200 uighurs were executed in February 1997 for having taken part in the demonstration. Other sources put the figure at more than 400. many also died from the torture they were subjected to.
