Istanbul: The protests against China's 'Hunger Genocide' in East Turkestan continue despite the clampdown in the name of controlling the Covid-19 pandemic. The Islamist groups and the local Turkish populace are supporting Uyghur movement against the atrocities of China, local media reported.

Following the Friday prayers on Sept 16, at the Fatih Mosque, Istanbul, hundreds of people marched in support of their Muslim Uyghur brothers and sisters under the banner 'We will not leave East Turkestan unclaimed'.

Leading the protest, the head of Islamist group Hizb-ut-Tahrir's Turkiye media office, Mahmut Kar read out a press statement and said, "Will you sacrifice Muslims to politics by using the economic agreements you made with China as an excuse...Will you ignore the lord's reckoning for the cheap loans you took from China....the oppressed people living in East Turkestan and Uyghur refugees here are waiting for your help...from whom should the Uyghurs seek help, not from you?...from the UN or NATO....are you not ashamed at all..... because you condemned the Uyghur people to this despair."

Mahmut Kar, in his press statement also underlined the Chinese atrocities which have been taking place in East Turkestan, unabated.

In his statement, Mahmut Kar also highlighted that China is prosecuting Muslims in their own homes citing the Covid-19 pandemic and the doors of houses are closed by welding on the pretext of quarantine. In the cities of East Turkestan like Gulca (Ili Kazakh Prefecture), Muslims cannot get essential supplies. The Chinese regime is deliberately depriving Muslims of food, leaving them to die, reported local media.

Mahmut challenged and said, "O invading Chinese regime! O infidel China! We are calling you from the lands of Turkiye which have been the centre of the Caliphate for many years....you will never extinguish the light of Islam...when the Rashid Caliph takes the head of Muslims....you will encounter such an army...neither the Great Wall of China nor the large population can save you."

A similar protest and press statement was reported after the Friday prayer at Ankara Hacibayram Mosque where several thousand Uyghur Muslims uprooted from their homeland presently live in Turkiye.

Notably, the proscribed Hizb Ut Tahrir is a pan-Islamist organisation that aims to implement Sharia globally. Despite being banned by several governments, Hizb Ut Tahrir is active in several western countries and Central-Asian countries.

Earlier this month, Muslims including Uyghurs participated in a huge prayer event in Kucucekmece Fatih Mosque in Istanbul to pray for their unprotected brothers and sisters facing the 'hunger genocide' in China.