Incident with the Chinese flag: Hong Kong police dissolve demo for Uighurs

In the Chinese province of Xinjiang in the west of the People's Republic, the authorities systematically violate human rights, particularly the ethnic minority of the Uyghurs. To draw attention to their situation, around a thousand Hong Kongers took to the streets on Sunday. However, one incident caused the police to break up the protest by force: According to the AFP news agency, at the initially peaceful rally, some demonstrators tore a Chinese flag from a government building and tried to burn it.

The organizers of the rally prevented the flag from being burned, but the police used pepper spray. The demonstrators then threw water bottles at the officers. Numerous participants were arrested.

The demonstrators had gathered in a square near the port and had given solidarity with the Uighurs with chants. They warned that the Chinese government could one day act against the Hong Kong people as well as against Muslim minorities in Xinjiang province.

"We shouldn't forget those who share a common goal with us - our struggle for freedom and democracy and anger against the Chinese Communist Party," a speaker said at the rally, earning applause from the crowd.

Many participants in the rally waved flags of East Turkestan, as many Uighurs call Xinjiang. The flag shows a white crescent moon on a blue background. Other demonstrators wore breathing masks with the East Turkestan flag. Tibetan and Taiwanese flags could also be seen. "The Chinese government is a control freak, they cannot stand opinions they disagree with," said a protester before the police broke up the assembly.

The Beijing government is internationally criticized for its actions against the Uighurs and members of other Muslim minorities in Xinjiang. According to human rights activists, more than a million of them are in re-education camps. After initially denying the existence of the camps in Beijing, the government now speaks of "vocational training centers" for deradicalization. Human rights activists also accuse Beijing of having installed a comprehensive surveillance system in Xinjiang.