Following the aggression against the Lonely Uyghur, the “City of Peace and Justice” severed Beijing’s propaganda arm.
by Abdurehim Gheni Uyghur
Tyranny shields itself with falsehoods; truth shatters the walls of oppression with courage. — From the personal memoir of Abdurehim Gheni Uyghur.
On May 20, 2026, the City Council of The Hague took a historic and decisive political step toward delivering a crushing blow to the Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) system of transnational repression and cross‑border intimidation. The Municipality of The Hague has officially severed its ties with the pro‑Beijing underground networks operating within its jurisdiction. Mayor Jan van Zanen announced a permanent ban on the pro‑Beijing organization responsible for hosting the annual Chinese Lantern Festival, declaring that they are “no longer welcome” to use the City Hall Atrium for their events.
This courageous administrative decision was triggered by an emergency debate initiated by Councilor Hera Butt of the Green Left Party (GroenLinks), together with the Labor Party (PvdA) and the People’s Party for Freedom and Democracy (VVD), following my harrowing public testimony before the council.
The urgent debate inside the political heart of The Hague traced directly back to the severe acts of violence perpetrated on February 14. On that day, while staging a peaceful, solo protest against the atrocities of the Chinese regime during the Lantern Festival inside the atrium of The Hague City Hall, pro‑Beijing security operatives brutally assaulted me. Granted a strict, limited window to address the City Council, I delivered a raw account of the physical and psychological terror inflicted upon me, piercing the hearts of the assembly with the following address:
“Honorable Chairperson, Esteemed Members of the Committee,
My name is Abdurehim Gheni. I stand before you today as the direct victim of a brutal, savage assault that took place on February 14, right here inside the atrium of your municipal government building. During my peaceful protest against Chinese tyranny, Chinese security personnel violently attacked me. They twisted my neck and arms, forcefully snatching the protest placards from my hands. As the assault was unfolding, they leaned in and whispered chillingly into my ear: ‘You deserve the concentration camp, you deserve death, I am going to kill you.’ This horrifying ordeal inflicted devastating trauma upon my inner world, stripping away reality until I felt as if I were not standing in the democratic Netherlands, but back in East Turkistan under brutal Chinese military occupation, being dragged away to a concentration camp. The long arm of Beijing has pierced my life, destroying my health and my safety here.”
“On that very day, the City Hall was filled with Dutch media, yet they chose silence, disregarding China’s ignoring. If it were not for the political parties in this city council who immediately confronted the Mayor with urgent inquiries, and if it were not for the courageous reporting of journalist Iris van den Boom of the “Algemeen Dagblad” (AD), this cross‑border oppression by China would have remained buried in secrecy. Such a cover‑up would have paved the way for even more aggressive and unhindered Chinese hostility on Dutch soil. I express my deepest gratitude to these three political parties and to the AD newspaper for breaking the silence and exposing this violence.”
“The aftermath of this assault, compounded by the relentless death threats I receive, is tearing my psychological well‑being apart. Their actions have shattered my inner peace, leaving me in profound mental anguish. As a direct consequence, following an urgent referral by my family physician, I have been admitted into Specialized Mental Health Care (SGGZ) for intensive psychiatric treatment. The long arm of Beijing is actively destroying my health and my life.”
“The struggle I wage for the freedom of my nation has demanded an agonizingly high personal price. In 2024, I stood as a key witness at the Court of Citizens of the World here in The Hague, testifying under the Rome Statute against the genocide of the Uyghur people perpetrated by Xi Jinping. In ruthless retaliation for my testimony, my father was tortured to death inside a Chinese concentration camp, while 19 of my immediate family members remain missing, completely erased from the record. I present a sharp ultimatum to this municipal council: if you cannot protect me from Chinese violence even within the secure walls of this City Hall, then what value does the title ‘City of Peace and Justice’ truly hold for this city? I thank you all from the bottom of my heart for listening with such seriousness.”
On May 20, 2026, journalist Amarins Siccama of the “Algemeen Dagblad,” one of the largest national newspapers in the Netherlands, published a full‑page investigative report titled “Chinese Organization Is No Longer Welcome at City Hall.” The article featured both the firm declarations of Mayor Jan van Zanen and the statements of Atom Zhou, the chairperson of the committee organizing the Chinese New Year event.
In a desperate attempt to absolve his network, Atom Zhou issued a public statement trying to rewrite the facts. He claimed that no violence had occurred, portraying me as an “aggressor” who “ruined the festive atmosphere and incited panic among attendees and children,” asserting that they merely “handed me over to the police.” This mirrors the classic, exhausted playbook of the Chinese Communist Party—playing the victim and shouting “thief” to deflect its own guilt when caught red‑handed. However, this web of falsehoods was decisively dismantled by Mayor Jan van Zanen.
The Mayor condemned the actions of the Chinese organization, calling them a flagrant violation of Dutch sovereignty and municipal protocol. He clarified that under Dutch law, only the official security guards of The Hague Municipality have the legal authority to intervene in public spaces. By taking policing powers into their own hands on Dutch soil, the Chinese operatives broke the law. Labeling the behavior of the pro‑Beijing organization as “unacceptable misconduct,” the Mayor stripped them of their political propaganda platform and permanently banned them from the building. “We will no longer facilitate this festival inside the City Hall. I will no longer cooperate with this organization,” Mayor van Zanen stated. In an extraordinary validation of my struggle, the Mayor has also agreed to an upcoming private meeting with me to address my personal safety, the progress of the criminal investigation, and the tragic fate of my missing family members.
This historic mandate by the Municipality of The Hague does not stand alone. Recently, the Dutch National Parliament (Tweede Kamer) adopted a sweeping legislative motion designed to combat foreign transnational repression, strengthening legal protections for vulnerable diaspora communities facing totalitarian overreach. This follows the precedent set by the city of Arnhem, which permanently severed its sister‑city alliance with China due to the ongoing Uyghur Genocide.
The triumph achieved in The Hague sends an unequivocal warning to Beijing’s covert networks across Europe: the democratic institutions of the West will no longer serve as a playground for autocracies seeking to terrorize and silence their critics. For an activist like me, whose father paid the ultimate price for truth and freedom, ending China’s lawlessness within the “City of Peace and Justice” represents a staggering blow to Beijing’s machinery of suppression, and a victory for the entire Uyghur diaspora worldwide.
Abdurehim Gheni is a Uyghur activist living in the Netherlands who became famous for his solo protests in Dam Square in Amsterdam. He also educates tourists to the reality of the Uyghur genocide.
