Washington, D.C., April 4 — The World Uyghur Congress (WUC) will mark the 36th anniversary of the Baren Uprising on April 5, honoring what it says were nearly 3,000 Uyghurs killed during a violent crackdown by Chinese authorities in Akto County, East Turkistan, between April 5 and 10, 1990.
WUC President Turgunjan Alawdun said the anniversary is a time to remember the dead and press for accountability for those who died defending basic freedoms. The organization plans demonstrations to coincide with the commemoration and to denounce what it calls ongoing Chinese abuses against Uyghurs.
Protests are scheduled in Germany: in Munich at Max-Joseph-Platz from 15:00 to 16:30 and outside the Chinese Embassy in Berlin from 12:00 to 14:00. Organizers say the rallies will demand justice for Baren victims and highlight the plight of Uyghurs who remain subject to persecution.
The WUC described the 1990 Baren events as an early instance of organized resistance to rising repression. According to the group, on April 5, about 200 Uyghurs marched to a local government office in Baren to protest political, religious, and cultural restrictions. The WUC says the protests were sparked in part by forced abortion and sterilization policies targeting Uyghur women.
The organization alleges that Chinese authorities responded with overwhelming military force, deploying more than 18,000 troops in a town with an estimated population of 19,000 at the time. It claims that over the following days thousands of Uyghurs were killed and that no independent inquiry has been carried out into the events.
The WUC argues that Baren was not an isolated incident but an early warning of intensifying state repression in East Turkistan, which the group says has since escalated into genocide. In its statement the WUC pointed to mass detentions affecting more than one million Uyghurs in camps, forced sterilizations and other birth-prevention measures, widespread forced labor, strict limits on religious and cultural practices, and alleged transnational repression including harassment, surveillance, and deportations of Uyghurs abroad.
The World Uyghur Congress urged the international community to seek reparations and justice for Baren victims and called on governments to take concrete steps to hold Chinese authorities accountable.
This report is based on a syndicated feed and was published as received; the Tribune assumes no responsibility for its accuracy or completeness.
