The World Union of Jewish Students has protested in strong terms against the “indiscriminate use of force by the Chinese government” on students in Beijing.
WUJS, which has 200,000 members in 40 countries, announced Monday that it sent the protest to Chinese embassies all over the world.
According to various sources, as many as 7,000 students may have been killed on June 3, when the Chinese leadership sent troops and tanks to disperse students demonstrating for democratic reforms in Beijing’s Tiananmen Square.
The Chinese government maintains only 300 people were killed, most of them soldiers.
The WUJS statement said the organization “condemns in the strongest terms the use of indiscriminate force by the Chinese government and military against unarmed Chinese students and others calling for democracy.”
It urged the Chinese government “to immediately cease all military and police actions and to enter into negotiations with the students.”
The statement also called for the release of jailed activists.
In New York, a number of American Jewish groups last week issued statements condemning the Chinese government’s action against the students.
Sholom Comay, national president of the American Jewish Committee, called the action “one of the major tragedies of our time” and urged the United States to reassess its relationship with the Chinese regime.
Rabbi Arthur Schneier, who as president of the Appeal of Conscience Foundation has led three missions to China, said the suppression of the student protest was “a shocking and bitterly disappointing event.”
It has dealt a “serious setback for the cause of human rights in the People’s Republic of China,” he said.
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