Arab News Japan

TOKYO: Protesters from Hong Kong, Taiwan, Turkmenistan, Cambodia, Taiwan, Tibet, Mongolia and Myanmar marched together with Japanese human rights activists in the popular Shibuya neighborhood of Tokyo on Saturday to denounce human rights abuses.  

Much of the focus of the marchers targeted the Chinese government and the “atrocities“ they are accused of against the Uygur population, in southern Mongolia and actions against Taiwan and Hong Kong.

Some activists carried placards aimed against Chinese strongman Xi Jinping for his militaristic threats against Hong  Kong and Taiwan and parts of East Asia.

Photos of activists allegedly tortured and shot by Cambodian riot repression forces were on display. Cambodia is currently ruled by Prime Minister Hun Sen, a former leader of the Khmer Rouge who has repressed his political opponents.  In 2013, demonstrators who opposed the election results reportedly were shot and tortured. In Tokyo’s demonstration, a young girl showed a photo of her father killed by the Cambodian prime minister’s riot police.

Tibetan independence activists posted slogans against the Beijing Winter Olympics for Human Rights Day.  An activist from Xinjiang told ANJ that the Beijing Olympics should be boycotted because of the Chinese authorities’ crackdown on the people of the Xinjiang Autonomous Region.

A Japanese activist carried a sign with an effigy of tennis player Peng Shuai, who has accused a former deputy prime minister of China of rape.

A Taiwanese activist living in Tokyo told ANJ  that Taiwan’s government guarantees democracy and that it is committed to freedom. She added that she wants China to stop torturing part of its own population and expressed concern that the Chinese Communist Party is threatening Taiwan.

The Asia Peace March demonstration on Saturday came in the wake of International Human Rights Day, which took place the day before.