Today's the 33rd anniversary of the 1989 #TiananmenSquare 'incident'. I was a student in #Beijing as it unfolded. China and its politics have run deep in my bloodstream ever since. Below, a thread detailing the eye witness account of a Chinese friend (17) and my own observations. Beijing witness (aged 17): “Saturday afternoon, 3 June. In the previous few days, the authorities have been arresting workers: morale is lowering. The government and PLA wait until people at Tian’anmen lessen, then move in the 27th Army in armoured vehicles.”

We are pleased to inform interested and concerned parties that the *full set of session recordings* from our Newcastle University conference 'The #Xinjiang Crisis: Genocide, Crimes Against Humanity, Justice' (1-3 Sept) are available online here: youtube.com/channel/UCIZNS… #Uyghurs Thread #2: Our conference speakers include experts on Xinjiang @JimMillward @VanessaFrangvi1 @jleibold @AElterish @j_smithfinley @GroseTimothy @dtbyler @adrianzenz @nyrola @sbtynen @RianThum @DilReyhan @ReasonablyRagin @rune_s_r @otkur009 @AndersonEliseM @robertsreport

Day 2 of the Second Hearings of The Uyghur Tribunal to investigate potential genocide and crimes against humanity in #Xinjiang is underway. You can watch it live HERE: THREAD: Christian Tyler (Author, historian of Xinjiang): "Violence from Uyghurs often took place in *retaliatory* fashion...they are fiercely protective of their womenfolk if violated. But 'Terrorism' used by the Chinese authorities to denounce *anything* they don't approve of."

eventbrite.co.uk/e/uyghur-tribu… Uyghur Tribunal: Second Hearings start tomorrow. If you're in or near London, get yourself down there. Geoffrey Nice QC, #UyghurTribunal: "It will become apparent that genocide does not necessarily involve mass killings ... yet genocide without mass killings has not previously been dealt with to conclusion anywhere in the world ... there is no precedent":

#UyghurTribunal Day 4: An anonymous PRC former camp guard is giving key testimony from Germany, where he has been given asylum. He testifies that all #Uyghurs are treated as political prisoners (terrorists, enemies of the state), also that "the rules are different in #Xinjiang". Describes torture methods designed to extract confessions: beating; inserting a pipe down the throat to fill the lungs with water [=waterboarding], insertion of electric rod into penis sheath; food deprivation and taunting of prisoners with food they were not permitted to eat etc

I'd like to share the full Press Statement I released yesterday, concerning the sanction China imposed on me for research documenting the genocide against #Uyghurs in #Xinjiang. (1) "I learned in the early hours of [26 March] via social media outlet Twitter that I have been sanctioned by the PRC (Chinese) government for ongoing research speaking the truth about human rights violations against Uyghurs and other Turkic Muslims in Xinjiang, Northwest China; (2)