Uyghur Supporters March as Part of the Chinese New Year Parade

FLUSHING, QUEENS, NEW YORK CITY -

On Jan. 25 marchers and activists calling for human rights for Uyghurs detained in internment camps in Xinjiang, China marched in Flushing, Queens, New York City as part of the Chinese New Year parade. According to the 2010 U.S. census, Flushing has a population of 72,000 with nearly 70% of them being Asian, predominantly Chinese residents. On a street surrounded by mainly Chinese parade spectators, the pro-Uyghur marchers held signs demanding freedom for who the U.S. State Department estimated to be possibly more than 2 million people, Muslim Uyghurs and other Muslim minority groups, held as prisoners without due process in detention centers in the Chinese state of Xinjiang. Groups who marched supporting Uyghurs at the parade were, Justice for All’s Save Uighur Project, Uyghur Rally, the Queens chapter of Amnesty International and the Flushing Interfaith Council. These groups worked with the Greater Flushing Chamber of Commerce who is the lead organizer of the Chinese New Year parade to march as part of the parade.

Former Uyghur detainees describe jail guards at internment camps in Xinjiang of torturing Uyghurs and forcing them to denounce Islam and other elements of their cultural heritage including their language. The U.S. House of Representatives passed a bill in Dec. 2018 demanding the U.S. government give a tougher response to the issue of Uyghur Muslims held in detention centers in China and the Chinese government’s crack down on Uyghur human rights and culture in Xinjiang. The bill is now waiting U.S. Senate approval.

Furthermore, the pro-Uyghur marchers walked alongside Nai Anwar, a Rohingya man and chairman of Freedom for Burma, a non-governmental organization working to stop the genocide and oppression of Rohingya people. Anwar, by himself, fled Myanmar for Thailand in 2008 to escape the Myanmar military’s persecution and killing of the Rohingya minority people. The Myanmar military killed his mother in his hometown in western Myanmar. Anwar lived as a stateless refugee in Thailand until 2013. That year, with the help of the United Nations Refugee Agency and the UN’s International Organization for Migration, he moved to America. He is now applying for his U.S. citizenship. Anwar’s father still lives in Myanmar and Anwar’s siblings fled the country. His three brothers live in Malaysia and his two sisters live in Thailand.

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Camera: Nikon D90. Nikon 18-55 mm zoom lens. Nikon 70-300 mm telephoto zoom lens