Amid more reports of more protest rallies held across the continents to commemorate the 65th anniversary of the Tibetan national uprising against Chinese occupation rule, a House resolution was introduced in the US Congress on Mar 11, seeking recognition of the Mar 10, 1959 upheaval in Tibet’s capital Lhasa and condemning ongoing human rights violations related to a destructive hydropower dam construction project in eastern Tibet’s area of Derge.
The Tibetan national flag fluttered over more than 2,100 local government buildings across the world, reported rfa.org Mar 11. Demonstrations held in more major cities across the world included Geneva, Brussels, New York, Washington DC, San Francisco, Toronto, Paris, Vilnius (Lithuania), as well as in the Czech Republic, Germany, and Italy, besides Australia. The uprising anniversary was also observed across Latin America, according to a Tibet.net report Mar 12. A number of Tibetan Youth Congress protesters were detained from outside the Chinese embassy in New Delhi.
The US House resolution, introduced by Representatives James P. McGovern (D-MA) and Young Kim (R-CA), said, “The PRC must comply with its own laws and its international human rights obligations, and stop oppressing Tibetans;” but that the “CCP shows no signs of slowing down until it has erased Tibetan culture.” It recognizes the 65th anniversary of the Dalai Lama’s flight from Tibet and confirms longstanding US congressional support for the human rights, including the right to self-determination.
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In New Delhi, 35 members of the Tibetan Youth Congress were forcibly taken away by police in a bus as they protested outside the Chinese Embassy on Mar 11. They were charged with trying to storm the embassy and released on bail later in the day, reported rfa.org Mar 11.
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In Washington, DC, Tibetans from across the country used the occasion to lobby lawmakers to pass the Resolve Tibet Act, which recognizes Tibet as an occupied country and seeks to pressure the Chinese government to restart negotiations with the Dalai Lama’s envoys or the democratically elected leaders of the Tibetan people. It was adopted by the House on Feb 15 and now awaits the Senate’s approval.
The Tibetan flag was raised at many local government buildings in the United States, including Boston, the capital and most populous city in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts; El Cerrito, Santa Barbara, Berkeley, and Richmond in California; East Rutherford in New Jersey, and Burlington in Vermont, said the rfa.org report.
Commemorative protest rallies were held in these and numerous other cities across North America, including before the UN headquarters in New York City, led in most cases by the 30 Tibetan associations in the continent, said a Tibet.net report Mar 11.
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In Europe, more than 800 Tibetan flags were raised outside state or town halls in the Czech Republic, over 600 in France, and 458 in Germany, said the rfa.org report Mar 11.
In Geneva, over 1,000 Tibetans in Switzerland and Liechtenstein gathered before the UN Human Rights Council building to commemorate the occasion and later took out a protest rally, said a Tibet.net report Mar 11. Those who addressed the gathering included Nicola Walder, Co-president of the Switzerland Parliamentary Group for Tibet.
In Belgium, the commemorative uprising rally was held outside the Chinese embassy in Brussels, on a two-hour permission, with the participation of the local Office of Tibet, an agency of the Central Tibetan Administration.
In France, participants carried out a protest rally from the popular tourist site of Trocadero to the Chinese embassy, with the participation of the Mayor of Paris, Geneviève Garrigos, and Deputy Mayor Jean-Luc Romero. The Tibetan flag was raised at the mayors’ offices of Toulouse, Amiens, Bordeaux, Caen, Marzens, and Labastide-saint Georges, said a Tibet.net report Mar 12.
In Germany, some 300 people gathered in Berlin to mark the occasion, joined by supporters from Hong Kong, Uyghurs, and China, with the event being organized by the Tibetan Association of Germany, the International Campaign for Tibet (Germany), and Tibet Initiative Deutschland (TID).
In capital Vilnius, the Lithuanian Tibet Support Group organised a protest in front of the Chinese Embassy on Mar 8 (Mar 10 being Sunday). The protesters, carrying Tibetan, Lithuanian and Latvian flags and posters, demanded an immediate end to the forced assimilation of Tibetans through colonial boarding schools, said a Tibet.net report Mar 11. Andrius Navickas, Chairman of the Group of Parliamentary Relations with Tibet of the Seimas (Parliament), released a statement for the occasion.
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A Tibet.net report Mar 12 said the 65th anniversary of the Tibetan Uprising of 1959 resonated across Latin America with supporters marching through cities with displays of Tibetan flags in events organized by the Brazil-based Office of Tibet for Latin America.
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Tibetan communities across Australia commemorated the uprising anniversary with the around 90 participants in capital Canberra gathering at Garema Place in Civic for the official event and then taking out a protest march to the Chinese Embassy where Songfa Liu, president of Falun Dafa, and Claudia NG, president of Hong Kong Community Link, addressed the gathering, said a Tibet.net report Mar 12.
Tibetan communities in Melbourne in Victoria state, Sydney in NSW and Brisbane in Queensland also commemorated the uprising day, the report said.
Among those who addressed the event in Melbourne were stated to be Senator Janet Rice from the Green party, and Jerry, convenor of China New Youth Democratic Party.