Protests were held outside the Chinese embassy in London and consulate in Manchester against China's treatment of Uyghur Muslims, demanding Beijing to close the concentration camps in Xinjiang province.
Hundreds of people gathered and took part in the protest and showed their solidarity with Uyghur Muslims in China. The protesters chanted "Stop stop genocide, China, China you can't hide".
"We are standing here for Uyghurs. We want China to close the concentration camps, open up the mosques and give the Uyghur Muslims, Kazak Muslims, and other persecuted minorities the basic freedoms to practice Islam," one of the protestors told Middle East Eye, a London-based online news outlet.
Afzal Khan, Labour Party MP said, "What we have here today is a large gathering for a protest outside the Consulate of China. It's the concern of these Mancunians about the treatment of Uyghurs in China. Now this issue, of course, is now mounting to genocide. And that really is not acceptable.
Another protestor raised the question and said, "We are here to demand justice for the Uyghur people. Because they don't have a voice. Their voice has been silenced. Why have we allowed this to happen? When it's happened in the past. We have said never again."
China has been rebuked globally for the crackdown on Uyghur Muslims by sending them to mass detention camps, interfering in their religious activities and sending members of the community to undergo some form of forcible re-education or indoctrination.
Early this year, the United States become the first country in the world to declare the Chinese actions in Xinjiang as "genocide".
In February, both the Canadian and Dutch parliaments adopted motions recognising the Uyghur crisis as genocide. The latter became the first parliament in Europe to do so.
In April, the United Kingdom also declared China's ongoing crackdown in Xinjiang a "genocide".
( With inputs from ANI )
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