CFU PRESS RELEASE
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
December 12, 2025, 2:00 PM EST
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CFU Marks 40th Anniversary of the 1985 Ürümchi Student Movement
WASHINGTON, D.C. – Campaign for Uyghurs (CFU) marks the 40th anniversary of the 1985 Ürümchi Student Movement, one of the largest student protests in modern Uyghur history and a pivotal moment in Uyghur resistance against Chinese Communist Party (CCP) oppression and the first-ever such protest against communism in the entire Eastern bloc.
On December 12, 1985, around 20,000 Uyghur students from seven different universities and institutes courageously took to the streets of Ürümchi to protest discriminatory policies, including inequities in education and employment, forced sterilizations, the devastating atmospheric nuclear testing in the Lop Nor region, and transfers of murderers and criminals from China proper’s prisoners to the Uyghur region. CFU Founder and Executive Director Rushan Abbas was one of the planners and co-organizers of these historic demonstrations, and today honors the brave students who risked everything to demand justice and dignity for the Uyghur people.
Between 1964 and 1996, China conducted 45 nuclear weapons tests at Lop Nur in the Uyghur region, converting nearly 100,000 sq km of desert into the world’s largest nuclear testing ground. Officials claimed the site was “barren and isolated, without permanent residents,” intentionally and wilfully ignoring the Uyghur herders and farmers who had lived there for centuries. The test poisoned land and water, led to severe health consequences, and left lasting damage across Uyghur communities. Although Chinese authorities agreed to meet with student representatives, they later interrogated and punished movement leaders. Rushan Abbas also faced retaliation for her organizational role after graduating from Xinjiang University in 1988, which she described in detail in her book Unbroken: One Uyghur’s Fight for Freedom. Despite this repression, the protests inspired further student mobilization across East Turkistan and helped shape the democratic youth movements.
“Forty years ago, I stood with fellow Uyghur students in Ürümchi to demand dignity and equal treatment. At that time, our voices marked the beginning of the first democratic movement in the history of East Turkistan after 35 years of colonization by the CCP,” said Rushan Abbas, Executive Director of Campaign for Uyghurs. “After forty years today, our people are facing a full-fledged active genocide. The honor and courage of the 1985 student movement remind the world of its unfinished responsibility. Remembering is not enough. Accountability and action must follow,” added Ms. Abbas.
Four decades later, conditions in East Turkistan have sharply worsened. China’s crimes are recognized as genocide and crimes against humanity by an independent tribunal, the UN, and multiple countries, including the United States. Evidence of abuse has continued to mount. Authorities have imposed more than 4.4 million cumulative years of prison sentences on Uyghurs, and in 2023 alone, carried out 3.2 million forced labor transfers. Hundreds of Uyghur villages have been renamed, and researchers estimate that more than 16,000 mosques have been destroyed or damaged since 2017. The Uyghur birth rate dropped to zero percent in some of the most Uyghur-populated areas, which is an act of genocide under the Geneva Convention’s genocide determination. The Chinese government celebrated these efforts by saying, “Uyghur women are no longer baby-making machines.” These acts reflect the same policies the 1985 students opposed, now carried out on a far broader scale as Beijing’s crimes against humanity and genocide against Uyghurs.
Courageous human rights defenders risking everything to stand against tyranny and for the Uyghur people, freedom is not theoretical. It is the line between life and death, between a future and a tragic history. The totalitarian communist regime is empowering all the dictators around the world and testing the resolve of democracies everywhere—from East Turkistan to Tibet, Southern Mongolia to Hong Kong, Ukraine, Taiwan, and beyond. CFU calls on the international community to act with urgency and hold the Chinese government accountable.
