Former English Premier League and Chinese Super League footballer Demba Ba has called on his fellow players to criticise China’s treatment of Uygur Muslims in Xinjiang. Ba, who played for Shanghai Shenhua from 2015 to 2018 before moving to Turkey, told the BBC that he wants to organise the effort to highlight the alleged human rights abuses in the region. “I have to try to organise something so football players can get together and, in the meantime, talk about this matter because not a lot of people want to,” he said. “I know there are footballers who want to fight for justice, whether Muslim, Buddhist, Christian, any belief,” the practising Muslim told BBC Sport. “As sportspeople, we have a power we don’t even know. If we get together and talk, things change. If we stand up, people stand up with us.” Arsenal’s Mesut Ozil is one of the few footballers to have spoken out about the reported human rights abuses carried out against Uygurs in Xinjiang. Last December the Germany international, who is of Turkish heritage, called on his fellow Muslims to speak out on the issue. #HayırlıCumalarDoğuTürkistan pic.twitter.com/dJgeK4KSIk — Mesut Özil (@MesutOzil1088) December 13, 2019 There was outcry from Beijing with Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesman Geng Shuang saying that Ozil had been deceived by “fake news” . “I don’t know if Mr Ozil has been to Xinjiang. But his eyes seems to have been covered by some fake news and his judgment affected by falsehoods,” Geng said, while inviting the player to visit the region. Arsenal’s next game against Manchester City was pulled from the schedules by state broadcaster CCTV , while fans burned his shirts and criticised him on social media. Arsenal’s Ozil reaction puts club in a game it can’t win The match commentators on streaming service PPTV did not mention Ozil’s name in subsequent broadcasts, while he was also removed from the online Chinese version of the Pro Evolution Soccer video game. The English club distanced themselves from Ozil’s comments on Weibo, offering a different message in Chinese than they did in English. German side FC Cologne also lost Chinese sponsorship after a former board member criticised China’s human rights record. “In China, human rights are being massively disregarded. A complete surveillance state is being built, one worse than even George Orwell could have imagined,” Stefan Muller-Romer told the Kolner Stadt-Anzeiger newspaper. “I have followed developments in China for more than 20 years and I have been there several times. I know what I am talking about.” Geng dismissed Muller-Romer’s comments as “pure nonsense”. CFA must take lead after Ba alleges racism and set tone for years to come Beijing has repeatedly denied the existence of camps in Xinjiang but now insists that the detention centres are training facilities and part of an effort to curb religious extremism. Senegal striker Ba compared the Uygur cause to football’s embracing of the Black Lives Matter movement, which has seen players take a knee before kick-off in English Premier League matches. “The Black Lives Matter movement is stronger when non-black people step up for it,” said Ba, who was the victim of racist abuse when playing for the Shanghai side . “When are we going to see the rest of the world stand up for Muslims?”