Muhammet Bayram / Ankara, July 10 () - A pro-Uighur group outside the Thai Embassy in Ankara has attempted to lynch an Asian tourist, assuming that the woman is Chinese.
One day after a group of protestors vandalized the Thai Consulate in Istanbul over the repatriation of 200 Uighurs from Thailand to China, another group staged a demonstration in front of the Thai Embassy in Turkey’s capital Ankara on July 9.
The group mistook a passing female tourist as a Chinese citizen and tried to attack her. She managed to escape after being helped by an unidentified local man.
The video footage shows one protester trying to calm the group, despite sympathizing with the attackers.
“I wish we could kill all of them, but we cannot act like this” a man can be heard saying in the video.
The demonstrators outside the Thai Embassy chanted nationalistic and religious slogans, asking Turks to protect the Uighurs and shouting “Allahu Akbar” (God is great) in Arabic.
The group later headed to the Chinese Embassy and attempted to break into the building, at which point riot police dispersed the protesters using tear gas.
The incident is the latest in a series of ultranationalist attacks on Asians over alleged Chinese repression of Uighurs. Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) leader Devlet Bahçeli downplayed the attacks in an interview with daily Hürriyet on July 8, saying it is difficult to differentiate amongst Asians “because they all have slanted eyes.”
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