A VOLKSWAGEN dealer in London has been targeted by protesters claiming that VW – as well as other car-makers and manufacturers – is using forced labour in its factories in China.

They have targeted London dealer Alan Day Volkswagen for the past three months, appearing several times a week on the pavement outside of the dealership.

Two male protesters, one with a sign saying ‘Volkswagen don’t repeat WW2. Leave Xinjiang, China’, said they were protesting against the treatment of Uighur muslims in “Chinese concentration camps”.

Yahoo News reports that the latest protest was broken up by police using COVID-19 legislation. It said the Met police stated that gathering for the purpose of a protest “is not an exemption under the legislation”.

The police said officers can use their power of arrest when dealing with COVID-19 infringements and fines can be issued.

Volkswagen UK, based at Milton Keynes, has said the claims are wrong and states it opposes all forced labour.

Volkswagen said in a statement: “We have no evidence that forced labour is being used in our direct supply chain or at any of our production plants.

“At our plant in Urumqi, all employees have a direct labour contract with SAIC Volkswagen with equal pay for equal jobs. No organisation outside of SAIC Volkswagen has any role or influence in hiring decisions.”

The protests stem from a BBC report in November that alleged human trafficking and forced labour camps in the far-western Xinjiang region of China, which borders Kazakhstan and has its major centre as Urumqi.

The Australian Strategic Policy Institute (ASPI), a think-tank established by the federal government in 2001 and partially funded by the Department of Defence with additional funding from the private sector, stated in March 2020 that the Chinese government has facilitated the mass transfer of Uyghur and other ethnic minority citizens from Xinjiang to factories.

“Under conditions that strongly suggest forced labour, Uyghurs are working in factories that are in the supply chains of at least 82 well-known global brands in the technology, clothing and automotive sectors, including Apple, BMW, Gap, Huawei, Nike, Samsung, Sony and Volkswagen,” ASPI said.

“This report estimates that more than 80,000 Uyghurs were transferred out of Xinjiang to work in factories across China between 2017 and 2019, and some of them were sent directly from detention camps.

“The estimated figure is conservative and the actual figure is likely to be far higher.

“In factories far away from home, they typically live in segregated dormitories, undergo organised Mandarin and ideological training outside working hours, are subject to constant surveillance, and are forbidden from participating in religious observances.

“Numerous sources, including government documents, show that transferred workers are assigned minders and have limited freedom of movement.”

Dealerships have occasionally been the targets of protestors campaigning on various subjects.

Automotive Management magazine in the UK said that dealers could be targeted because protestors see them as the “local face” of the car brand.

Greenpeace targeted seven Land Rover dealerships in 2005 who blamed its “gas guzzlers” for causing climate change.

Protests for the global environmental movement Extinction Rebellion (XR) in May last year painted signs saying ‘No going back. Let us breathe’ on the windows of Marshall Jaguar Land Rover dealership in Cambridge, and on a nearby warehouse owned by oil drilling company Schlumberger.

The dealership is one of several owned by aerospace and defence company Marshall that also owns the Cambridge airport.

By Neil Dowling