As French President Emmanuel Macron prepared to welcome his Chinese counterpart, Xi Jinping, in Paris, France, on March 25, more than a thousand Chinese minority people and their supporters rallied to protest against Xi’s arrival. Among the protesters were members of the Tibetan and Uighur diaspora, two ethnic groups who have endured significant discrimination and persecution from the Chinese government in recent years.
The protesters carried Tibetan national flags and placards demanding freedom in Tibet, and urged Macron to confront Xi in regards to China’s human rights record. They contended that France has the responsibility to put pressure on China on such issues and called on France to play a role in the resumption of talks between Beijing and His Holiness the Dalai Lama, which have stalled since 2010.
The protest, which was jointly organised by six French human rights NGOs, and consisted of the unification of multiple minority groups, implored Macron to seek meaningful gestures on prisoners of conscience and conditions of detention.
“[We want] to put an end to the mass arrests of Tibetans, Uighurs, Chinese Christians, spiritual practitioners of the Falun Gong and Chinese democratic dissidents,” said Charles Thupten Gyatso, an activist with France’s Tibetan community.
Rights groups additionally accuse China of abuse against mostly Muslim minorities in the country’s western region, including Uighurs and Kazaks, who endure mass detention, surveillance, political indoctrination and forced cultural assimilation.
“As the Chinese government visits France, we want President Macron to say we want justice and freedom for three million Uighurs in concentration camps,” says Raziye Maerdan, a Uighur living in France.
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