Tibetans And Supporters Join The Resistance: Tens Of Thousands Take To The Streets

<b>Tibet campaigners vow to intensify efforts to secure government action, as instances of self-immolation in Tibet escalate

Contact: </b>
Tenzin Wangmo, SF Team Tibet Media Coordinator (510) 224-4697. Wangmo [at] studentsforafreetibet.org
Yangchen Lhamo, Executive Board member at the Students for a Free Tibet (415) 997-3212. Yangchenc [at] studentsforafreetibet.org

<b>March 10 2012</b>

San Francisco, CA - Tibetans and Tibet supporters in over 30 countries (1) are taking to the streets today to join the Tibetan resistance and to mark the 53rd anniversary of Tibetan National Uprising (2) when thousands of Tibetans rose up against China’s invasion and occupation of Tibet; defiantly resisting the repressive policies that continue today and have provoked an unprecedented wave of self-immolations by Tibetan monks, nuns and laypeople.



In San Francisco Bay Area, the Tibetan national flag will be raised on the city flag pole to show solidarity with the people of Tibet in commemoration of the Tibetan National Uprising Day. The event will begin at 8.a.m with Berkeley Councilmember Kriss Worthington and Richmond Mayor Gayle McLaughlin present. Tibetans and supporters will then march the streets of San Francisco from Justin Herman Plaza (11:30a.m) to the Chinese Consulate (until 2:30p.m), ending at Union Square (6.pm - 8p.m).


“As Tibetans in Tibet continue to resist China’s violent regime to the point of taking their own lives in protest, I am in the streets today to ensure that their calls for freedom echo around the world and penetrate the halls of political power." said Tenzin Tsedup, President of the Tibetan Association in Northern California.

Since January 2012, 13 Tibetan monks, nuns and lay people (4) in eastern Tibet have set themselves alight as an act of protest, calling for freedom for Tibet and the return of the Dalai Lama. So far, 26 Tibetans have self-immolated in Tibet, at least 19 of whom have died (4), including Rinchen, a mother of four children (5). The same calls for freedom were also heard during a recent wave of large-scale peaceful protests in January and February 2012. Chinese security forces responded to this resistance by opening fire on crowds, killing at least five Tibetans and seriously injuring many more.

“On 10 March 2012 we commemorate all those Tibetans past and present who have resisted China’s occupation. We stand in solidarity with Tibetans in Tibet who are engaging in a nonviolent resistance to take back their freedom.” said Tenzin Tselha, Member of UC Berkeley Students for a Free Tibet. “We vow to intensify our efforts in support of Tibetans inside Tibet and call on world governments and the global community to escalate pressure on China to end its siege on the Tibetan nation before more lives are lost.”

More than five decades after the 1959 Uprising, Tibetans in Tibet are continuing to risk everything in defiance of the Chinese leadership, which recently announced it was preparing for “war” against Tibetan “saboteurs” (6). 
In an effort to stop news of this unrest reaching the world the Chinese government has sealed Tibet off from foreigners and journalists. Undercover footage of the military build-up in eastern Tibet shows the intense security that Tibetans are forced to endure. On 6 March, Sky News broadcast an interview with a Tibetan in Ngaba who said “I feel very sad, you know because of the situation, a lot of the people died, so just Tibetan people alone, no body can help, no body…no body try to help. We are not terrorist, we are buddhism, so we are not going to harm any other people.” (7)

“China is responsible for writing the darkest chapter in Tibet’s history but we are here today to support Tibetans in their determination to regain their freedom. We say “ENOUGH! to Beijing’s violence and call for global intervention now to save Tibetan lives”, said Tashi Namgyal, President of the San Francisco Regional Tibetan Youth Congress. “We call on the U.S government to join with other world leaders to take new, bold and coordinated action to help secure a just and fair resolution for the Tibetan people, so that they can live their lives in the peace and freedom they have sacrificed so much to achieve.”

<b>NOTES:</b>
1. See http://www.March10.org



2. 10 March 2012 is the anniversary of one of the most momentous days in Tibetan history; on this day in 1959 thousands of Tibetans in Tibet took to the streets of Lhasa to protest against Chinese rule and protect their leader, His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama. As China shelled Lhasa, His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama was forced to escape from Tibet. In 2008, 10 March was the beginning of the most widespread opposition to China’s occupation of Tibet as protests swept the Tibetan plateau.

3. The International Tibet Network is a global coalition of 185 Tibet related non-governmental organizations, which works to maximize the effectiveness of the worldwide Tibet movement. Network Member organizations regard Tibet as an occupied country and are dedicated to ending human rights violations in Tibet, and to working actively to restore the Tibetan people's right under international law to determine their own political, economic, social, religious, and cultural status. See http://www.tibetnetwork.org

4. See http://www.StandUpforTibet.org/further-information.

5. See report by the International Campaign for Tibet: http://www.savetibet.org/media-center/ict-news-reports/tibetan-student-and-widowed-mother-self-immolate-tibet

6. In February 2012, Tibet Autonomous Region Party Secretary Chen Quanguo told officials to prepare for “a war against secessionist sabotage” [Tibet Daily, quoted by The Telegraph, see http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/asia/tibet/9074401/Chinese-police-shoot-dead-two-as-Tibetan-New-Year-approaches.html

7. Sky News 6 March 2012, “China: Self-Immolations are terrorism in disguise”. See http://news.sky.com/home/world-news/article/16183059

This event is organized by SF Team Tibet ; Tibetan Association of Northern California, San Francisco Regional Tibetan Youth Congress, Students for a Free Tibet and Bay Area Friends of Tibet.