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Rebiya Kadeer - Source: ONE News -
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An exiled Chinese Muslim leader came face to face with her so-called "enemy" on Tuesday outside the University of Auckland.
Rebiya Kadeer, the president of the World Uyghur Congress, was confronted with pro-Chinese demonstrators on the university campus grounds.
Uyghurs are a mainly Turkic Muslim group of Chinese citizens in the western Xinjiang province of the Chinese mainland and have most recently had violent clashes with Han Chinese government troops.
The Chinese government says around 200 people were killed three months ago in clashes between the Uyghur and Han Chinese populations and say Kadeer is responsible for the violence.
They call her a terrorist, while Kadeer came to the university to talk to students about freedom of speech.
"The Uyghur people cannot speak in their heart, cannot speak out against the injustices of the Chinese government," Kadeer said through a translator.
Law lecturer David Williams talked the university into hosting Kadeer after it initially tried to cancel the talk.
"The university is a place of enquiry and debate and the reputation of the university would be diminished by bowing to pressure to cancel the meeting," says Williams.
But wherever Kadeer goes she is followed by pro-Chinese protesters and that didn't change at the University of Auckland, where pro-Chinese protesters, many holding signs like "AU does not welcome terrorist" were seen. But following them was also Amnesty International, who argued against their views.
Through an interpreter during the speech to students at the university, Kadeer talked about the six Uyghur who were overnight sentenced to death by the Chinese government for their part in the riots.
She talked about her own time in jail and she took questions from anyone, even pro-Chinese supporters, getting an ovation from the audience at the end of the talk.
