GIESSEN - "Freedom for Uyghurs, freedom for Uyghurs" resounded along the Anlagenring on Saturday afternoon. About 100 participants had followed the call and had initially gathered on Berliner Platz for a rally. The organizer of the demonstration, Stergios Svolos, emphasized the importance of the rally: "This is a heartfelt issue for Giessen Muslims. European solidarity only reaches as far as Xinjiang," says the city councilor. But what exactly was the demonstration for? The Uyghurs are a Turkic-speaking people who today live mostly in the Chinese autonomous region of Xinjiang. Almost all of them belong to the religious community of Islam. According to the speakers of the rally, the approximately 15 million Uyghurs are today massively oppressed, persecuted, tortured and liquidated. Since 2021, Western states have explicitly spoken of genocide against the Uyghurs by the Chinese state, and human rights violations in Xinjiang are commonplace, according to the UN Commission on Human Rights.
The speakers at the rally took a clear position against these human rights violations. Ines Yekkache spoke on behalf of the Buhara Mosque about the genocide of the Uyghurs, which has been going on for a long time. "They are human beings. For this reason, it concerns all of us! We must learn to stand up for everyone and take a stand against injustice, whether we are Muslims, Jews, Christians, atheists, Hindu, Buddhist or any other religion," Yekkache says. The school spokesman of the LLG, Bünyamin Günduz, agrees. A Uyghur youth is under permanent surveillance, he says, and his daily routine is massively different from German youth. "He can't access everything or use social media. One day, on the site of the mosque, there was only rubble and debris," Günduz says, going further. Many stores would close overnight, people would disappear. "Since then, he has been held in a camp, tortured and re-educated until he doesn't know his religion, his language or where he comes from," the school spokesman reports. Nabor Keweloh of the Giessen Jusos also affirms this. "These camps must be named as what they really are: Internment camps!" he says. Three million people of Muslim faith are imprisoned in the so-called "transformation-by-education centers" to achieve their political indoctrination and cultural assimilation, Keweloh reports. Likewise, the "grannies against the right" support the rally of mostly young people. Dr. Dorothea von Ritter-Röhr takes a clear position on the actions in the Far East: "We cannot accept injustice against the Uyghurs! We cannot accept injustice against minorities! Today it takes place in far away China. Tomorrow it can take place in Europe. The day after tomorrow it can take place in Germany!" chanted von Ritter-Röhr during the rally. The demonstration drew attention to a problem that many have probably heard of but do not give much thought to the issue. However, the 100 participants made it clear that this is precisely the issue that is close to their hearts. read more