‘Get out, China’: Indonesian Muslims march to protest against treatment of Uygurs
- More than a thousand head to heavily guarded Chinese embassy in Jakarta to condemn Beijing’s actions in Xinjiang
- Indonesian security minister says government had summoned Chinese ambassador to explain alleged abuses
More than a thousand Muslims marched to the heavily guarded Chinese embassy in Indonesia’s capital on Friday to protest against China’s treatment of its Uygur Muslims.
The protesters, many wearing blue headbands reading “Save Uygurs”, chanted “Get out, China!” and unfurled Indonesian and Uygur flags as they marched to the embassy in downtown Jakarta.
In a speech, Yusuf Martak, a protest organiser, condemned the “oppression, torture and cruelty by the Chinese Communist government against brother Uygur Muslims”.
Martak, a leader of a conservative Muslim alliance that held mass protests against Jakarta’s ethnic Chinese governor, a minority Christian, in 2016, demanded an end to mass detentions of Uygur Muslims in China’s Xinjiang region.
“We Muslims oppose all forms of colonialism and oppression of Uygurs,” said another speaker, Slamet Maárif, standing on the top of a truck. The crowd chanted “Get out, Communists!” as some waved banners saying “We stand with Uygurs.”
He called on the Indonesian government to take action to help the Uygurs.