17. Juni 2008

The Society for Threatened Peoples (GfbV) together with Uighurs protested in Munich on Tuesday against the Olympic torch-run sponsored by Volkswagen, which reached the homeland of the suppressed Uigurs in the north-west of China . "Volkswagen should not allow itself to be misused by sponsoring a propaganda run with onlookers who have been hand-picked and toe the party-line, as is the case now in East Turkestan”, said the GfbV Asia expert, Ulrich Delius. The so-called "run of harmony” is a farce and disregards the basic human rights of the Uigurs.

Before the torch arrived in Urumchi, the capital of the Xinjiang region, the great mass of the population was called on by the authorities to keep away from the route of the torch and instead to watch the media event on TV. Along the route itself according to information received by the GfbV only handpicked Uigurs who "keep their noses clean”are allowed to cheer. Weeks beforehand the authorities looked out for suitable onlookers and carried out several practices of the arrival of the flame with these extras. The choice of onlookers was restricted to members of the Communist Party and Uigurs with no family members who are living in exile or being held in prison for political reasons.

It came as a surprise to learn that the Organisation Committee for the Olympiad in Peking had announced that the "Torch-run of harmony” sponsored by Volkswagen was to reach East Turkestan on Tuesday already and not at the end of June, as originally planned. This change of plan at short notice has evidently been intended to prevent public protest in Tibet and East Turkestan (Xinjiang).

The more than ten million Muslim Uigurs have for years been complaining against the infringement of their freedom of worship, of demonstration and of speech as well as against the systematic destruction of their culture. No other group in the population in China suffers so much from politically motivated executions. More than 700 Uigurs have been sentenced to death for political reasons since 1997.

There are about 600 Uigurs living in the Bavarian capital. This is the largest Uigur exile community in Central Europe .