2 North Bay Activists Detained In China

Kathmandu – 4 US activists were detained Tuesday after demonstrating and unfurling a banner reading “One World, One Dream, Free Tibet 2008” in English, and “Free Tibet” written in Tibetan and Chinese, at Mount Everest’s main base camp in Tibet.

The protest was held on the eve of the International Olympic Committee’s announcement of the final Beijing 2008 Olympic torch
relay route and as a Chinese team of climbers prepared a trial ascent of the mountain. Today China announced that it will continue with its plan to take the torch through Tibet and over Mt. Everest.

“The Chinese government hopes to use the 2008 Olympic Games to conceal the brutality of its occupation of Tibet and win the international community’s acceptance as a modern power on the world stage,” said Lhadon Tethong, the Executive Director of Students for a Free Tibet, from Kathmandu.

"Tibetans worldwide are looking to the 2008 Beijing Olympics as an unprecedented opportunity to expose the truth about Chinese rule in Tibet,” said Tenzin Choeying, the National Director of Students for a Free Tibet India. "The torch of freedom continues to burn brightly in the hearts and minds of Tibetans everywhere and China can expect more protests of this nature in the months leading up to and during the Games."

Among those detained are Shannon Service and Laurel Mac Sutherlin two north bay activists, Tenzin Dorjee, a Tibetan-American living in New York, and Kirsten Westby of Boulder, Colorado. Soon after the detention the activists were we able to relay messages of their safety, but currently there is no contact or knowledge of their safety or location.

Show your support and help bring these activists home. Call your senators and spread the news! Information of actions to follow.

Footage of the demonstration can be viewed at http://www.studentsforafreetibet.org