Uyghur protestors march through Washington, DC, July 12, 2015, (UHRP photo)

On July 2, 2015, the Uyghur American Association organized a protest in front of China’s embassy in Washington, DC. The protest commemorated the sixth anniversary of unrest in Urumchi, when a massive crackdown on peaceful protests resulted in untold numbers of extrajudicial killings and forced disappearances of Uyghurs.

Footage from UAA’s demonstration can be seen here:

Just days after the July 5 anniversary, Thailand forcibly returned to China a group of 109 Uyghur refugees after holding them in refugee camps for over a year.  The blatant contravention of international human rights law was widely condemned. Uyghur youth in the Washington, DC area organized a demonstration the following weekend for community members to protest the injustice, called “RISE UP!”

Footage from their march can be seen here:

The protestors distributed information with a joint Turkish petition to passersby and encouraged onlookers to learn more about the human rights of the Uyghur people.