Washington, DC [US], November 24 : Three years after the tragic Urumchi Fire on November 24, 2022, the World Uyghur Congress (WUC) remembers the over 40 Uyghur lives lost and denounces the Chinese government's ongoing lack of transparency regarding the incident, according to a statement from WUC.
The fire, which broke out in a residential building under lockdown in the Tianshan district of Urumchi, revealed the devastating effects of the Chinese government's racially discriminatory policies in East Turkistan and the broader repression.
On the night of the fire, Uyghur families found themselves trapped behind sealed doors, iron barriers, and stringent COVID lockdown measures that disproportionately affected the Uyghur community. Residents were hindered from escaping, and firefighters allegedly took hours to arrive despite being nearby. Testimonies have indicated that at least 44 individuals, including mothers and young children, perished in the inferno, a number that far exceeds the Chinese government's reported figure of ten deaths. To this day, Beijing has not provided a comprehensive investigation, a list of victims, or an explanation for the delayed response, as noted in the WUC release.
"It has been three years, yet we continue to experience the same indifference toward Uyghur lives," remarked WUC President Turgunjan Alawdun. "Uyghurs remain unable to seek justice or a thorough inquiry into the deaths of their family members. In other nations, one could normally inquire about the circumstances of their loved ones' deaths, but for Uyghurs, doing so might lead to detention. This tragedy must be remembered not just for the lives lost but as a reflection of a wider pattern of systemic neglect and the ongoing effort to erase the Uyghur people," as quoted in the WUC release.
The Urumchi Fire served as a trigger for the White Paper Movement, marking China's largest nationwide protests since Tiananmen Square. Tens of thousands of individuals, mostly students, gathered across the nation holding blank sheets of paper to protest censorship, arbitrary lockdowns, and state violence, as noted in the WUC release.
Chinese protesters who had been arrested for leading or participating in the demonstrations have since been released. However, a 19-year-old Uyghur university student, Kamile Wayit, who was studying at the Shangju Institute of Technology in Henan, was detained on December 12, 2022, and sentenced for "promoting extremism" simply for sharing a video of the protests on WeChat. Various sources suggest she is still believed to be incarcerated at Kashgar Women's Prison.
This highlights the sharp contrast in how Uyghur and Chinese protesters are treated. As we commemorate this anniversary, the WUC honours the victims and supports the families who continue to endure in silence. Their lives mattered, and justice has long been overdue, as stated in the WUC release.
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