The Uyghur community, led by the East Turkistan Government in Exile (ETGE) and the East Turkistan National Movement (ETNM), gathered in the US capital Washington DC to mark the 10th anniversary of the 2014 Yarkand massacre.

The members demanded immediate action against China for persecuting Uyghurs.

The  East Turkistan Government in Exile (ETGE) posted on X: " #Uyghurs in DC, led b ETGE and @ETNational , commemorated the 10th anniversary of the 2014 #YarkandMassacre, in which 3,000 to 5,000 #Uyghurs were killed by Chinese forces, and called on the U.S. Government to take action to end #China's ongoing #UyghurGenocide. They urged the U.S. to treat #EastTurkistan on par with #Tibet, pass the Senate's #UyghurPolicyAct, appoint a Special Coordinator for East Turkistani issues at the @StateDept, and support the restoration of East Turkistan's independence."

Nine years ago, Chinese security forces violently suppressed a largely peaceful protest in Yarkand, leading to the deaths of many innocent Uyghurs.

In the year preceding Yarkand, Uyghurs had been killed consistently in several violent incidents as a result of security forces and police brutality.

Who are Uyghur Muslims?

Uyghur Muslims are a Turkic minority ethnic group originating from and culturally affiliated with the general region of Central and East Asia. It is now widely publicized that their human rights are crushed by China and they were sent to "re-education camps" by the communist regime in Beijing.

The Uyghurs are recognized as native to the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region of the People's Republic of China.