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July 5, 2026 | 9:00 AM EST
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Campaign for Uyghurs Marks 17 Years Since the Urumchi Massacre and Calls for Accountability
Washington, D.C. – Today, on the 17th anniversary of the July 5, 2009 Urumchi Massacre, Campaign for Uyghurs (CFU) solemnly honors the victims and survivors of one of the darkest chapters in recent Uyghur history, condemns the Beijing’s brutal killings and disappearing of thousands of innocent Uyghur youth, and renews our call for truth, justice, and accountability for the Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) crimes against the Uyghur people.
On July 5, 2009, thousands of Uyghurs, most of them students and young people, gathered peacefully in Urumchi, the capital of East Turkistan (AKA Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region), to demand justice for workers who had been killed days earlier in Shaoguan, Guangdong Province. The Uyghur protesters in Urumchi were even carrying Chinese flags to make clear that they were not protesting against the government, but demanding fairness and justice for the Uyghur workers who were brutally and unjustly killed at the Shaoguan toy factory. Rather than responding to their calls for accountability, Chinese armed forces moved in and fired at the demonstrators and killed hundreds and followed with the authorities launched a violent crackdown. Security forces dispersed demonstrators by force, and in the days and weeks that followed, thousands of Uyghurs were detained, disappeared, and killed. Communications were severed, independent reporting was suppressed, and the region was placed under unprecedented security control. The Human Rights Watch reported that around 40 thousand Uyghurs disappeared after the massacre on July 5th, 2009. Chinese state media launched a propaganda campaign blaming the unrest on external “separatist” forces and obscuring the events of the massacre.
Seventeen years later, many questions surrounding the events of July 5, 2009 remain unanswered. The true number of Uyghur victims has never been revealed, countless families still do not know the fate of their loved ones, and the Chinese government continues to censor information, intimidate witnesses, and punish those who seek to preserve the memory of what occurred.
The July 5 Urumchi Massacre stands as a defining moment in the CCP’s systematic campaign against the Uyghur people. What began as a violent response to peaceful calls for justice evolved into a broader effort to erase Uyghur identity, culture, religion, and freedom. The Urumchi Massacre exposed the Chinese Communist Party’s willingness to use violence to silence those seeking justice and dignity.
“Seventeen years ago, Uyghurs took to the streets to peacefully demand justice, only to be met with deadly violence and mass repression,” said Rushan Abbas, Executive Director of Campaign for Uyghurs. “The Chinese Communist Party has spent years attempting to erase the truth of July 5, 2009, and escalated the oppression against the Uyghur people to a full-fledged active genocide. As we honor the victims and those who disappeared, we call on the international community to reject silence, demand accountability, and stand with Uyghurs in their pursuit of truth and justice.”
Today, as the Uyghur people remain subjected to mass detention, forced labor, family separation, and cultural destruction, which described as crimes against humanity by the UN human rights high commissioner and called genocide by the US, the UK, Canada and several other countries and parliaments around the world. We must remember that the warning signs were evident seventeen years ago. As we commemorate the victims of the Urumchi Massacre, and honor their courage for demanding justice, we do so with the drive and understanding that their stories must never be erased, their suffering must not be forgotten, and the pursuit of justice for victims cannot not be abandoned.
