Dozens of Uyghurs, East Turkistanis, and American allies recently demonstrated outside the White House to mark the 16th anniversary of the July 5, 2009 Urumchi Massacre.

According to reports, the event was hosted by the East Turkistan Government in Exile, the East Turkistan National Movement, the East Turkistan Parliament in Exile, and the East Turkistan National Fund.

The rally began with the United States National Anthem, honouring America’s 249th Independence Day, followed by the East Turkistan National Anthem, symbolising the ongoing struggle for independence and freedom from Chinese occupation, as per an official statement issued by the ETGE.

Salih Hudayar, ETGE Foreign and Security Minister and leader of the ETNM, said: "The #UrumchiMassacre set the stage for the systemic genocide we witness today, a genocide that continues to devastate our people. Today, in 2025, the Uyghur Genocide is not a memory; it is a living nightmare that continues to claim lives, tear families apart, and destroy an entire nation.”

Hudayar condemned US Ambassador to China David Perdue's with Chinese officials complicit in genocide and other crimes.

“That meeting, framed as ‘law enforcement cooperation,’ is not diplomacy; it is appeasement of a genocidal regime. It is a betrayal of American values and those facing genocide in the 21st century,"  Hudayar said.

Major Ben Lowsen (Ret.), A US-China strategist and sinologist, said: "China was always willing to kill Uyghurs by the thousands, tens of thousands. And that’s unimaginable in a free society like ours. And we can’t be naive. China’s threat is not only to Uyghurs and other Turkic people. China’s threat is on our doorstep. It’s terrorizing our citizens and our residents.”

He further urged the free world to prepare to fight the CCP.
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Saturday marked the 16th anniversary of the July 5, 2009, Urumchi Massacre, where thousands of peaceful Uyghur demonstrators were killed or disappeared by Chinese forces in Urumchi.