Relatives Of Ethnic Kazakhs Incarcerated In Xinjiang Resume Protest Near Chinese Consulate In Almaty

There was no violence reported at the February 8 protest, though police did not allow the participants to get near to the Chinese Consulate building. 

ALMATY, Kazakhstan -- Relatives of several ethnic Kazakhs incarcerated in China's northwestern region of Xinjiang have resumed a protest near the Chinese Consulate in Kazakhstan’s largest city, Almaty, as they demand that their relatives be released.

There was no violence reported at the February 8 protest, though police did not allow the participants to get close to the consulate building.

One of the protesters, 68-year-old Khalida Aqytkhan, who said her two sons had been sentenced to 22 and 10 years in prison "simply because they are practicing Muslims," fainted and an ambulance was called to the site.

Representatives of the Chinese Consulate did not come out of the building to talk to the protesters. Police at the site refused to comment to RFE/RL.

Protesters in Almaty have regularly rallied near the Chinese Consulate since February 2021 to demand the release of relatives and loved ones imprisoned in Xinjiang for being practicing Muslims.

China has been accused of human rights violations against Kazakhs, Uyghurs and other mostly Turkic-speaking indigenous ethnic groups over the existence of mass detention camps in Xinjiang.

Beijing denies that the facilities are internment camps, saying its actions are aimed at combating terrorism, but people who have fled the province say those from the ethnic groups are undergoing "political indoctrination" at a network of facilities officially referred to as reeducation camps.

The Chinese Embassy has said that all ethnic Kazakhs incarcerated in Xinjiang are Chinese citizens and are being held for breaking Chinese laws.

Several relatives of the protesters were released and allowed to travel to Kazakhstan in recent years.

Kazakh authorities refrain from openly criticizing the policies of China, one of their main creditors.

The U.S. State Department has said that as many as 2 million Uyghurs, Kazakhs, and members of Xinjiang's other indigenous, mostly Muslim, ethnic groups have been taken to detention centers.

Kazakhs are the second-largest Turkic-speaking indigenous community in Xinjiang after Uyghurs. The region is also home to ethnic Kyrgyz, Tajiks, and Hui, also known as Dungans. Han, China's largest ethnicity, is the second-largest community in Xinjiang.