Protests held in 50 cities against Beijing 2022

ANKARA (AA) - Protests were held on Wednesday in more than 50 cities worldwide calling for the boycott of the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics.

The World Uyghur Congress (WUC) said in a statement the protest aimed to mount pressure on world leaders and the National Olympic Committee to boycott the games.

The protests were held in Australia, New Zealand, and Japan.

Rallies and protest will also be held in the US, Canada, Argentina, and Sweden, the rights group said.

“Olympic Day is supposed to be a day to celebrate diversity, peace, friendship and respect, but China, the next Winter Games hosts, carrying out a genocide against Uyghurs and serious crimes against Tibetans, Mongolians, Hong Kongers and others, there is no room for celebration," said Dolkun Isa, a representative of the group.

"Instead, we urge governments, National Olympic Associations, sponsors and athletes to use Olympic Day to commit to not supporting China’s heinous human rights abuses and say no to Beijing 2022,” Isa added.

A 2018 Human Rights Watch report detailed a Chinese government campaign of "mass arbitrary detention, torture, forced political indoctrination, and mass surveillance of Xinjiang's Muslims."

China has repeatedly denied allegations that it is operating detention camps in its northwestern Xinjiang region, home to the Uyghur community, claiming instead that it is "re-educating" Uyghurs.

Many Uyghurs -- around 1 million to 1.6 million, according to the World Uyghur Congress -- have left China to live abroad.

*Writing by Islamuddin Sajid