Tibetans in Dharamsala protest China's National Day

Photo : Gelek Pasang

Dharamsala, October 1 – As the People’s Republic of China today celebrated its 60th anniversary Tibetans and supporters worldwide expressed their protest against what they called “60 years of enslavement and brutality”. Tibetan exiles here in Dharamsala, the headquarters of the Tibetan government, took out a protest march and held a gathering to mark their opposition to the Chinese government’s festivities.

Organized by Tibetan Women’s Association, Gu Chu Sum Movement, National Democratic Party of Tibet, and Students for a Free Tibet, Tibetans wore black headbands and held placards and Tibetan national flags in protest.

The four Tibetan NGOs in a joint statement expressed their deepest solidarity with the people of China, Tibet and East Turkestan who continue to suffer under the “tyrannical regime”. “Despite much change and economic progress in China in the last 60 years, the people of China live under abject deprivation of the basic human rights that we in the free world are bestowed with,” read the statement.

While the Tibetan parliament in exile (Legislature) issued a statement of opposition to the celebrations the Tibetan government (Executive) that often comes under criticism from within the Tibetan community for its reconciliatory approach for negotiations has not issued any such statement. The Tibetan parliament in exile said it disapproves of the Chinese national day celebrations as “deceptive” propaganda exercise to mislead public opinion. “Under the pretext of observing the 60th Anniversary of PRC, the Government of China is taking up a number of policies and programmes that contradict with reality.”

The speaker of the Tibetan parliament Penpa Tsering and president of the Tibetan Youth Congress Tsewan Rinzin were present among others at the Tsuglakhang courtyard where the gathering was held before the protest march. Tsewang, whose organization is the largest group in exile with complete independence as its goal, said that the day ought not to be celebrated but mourned for the immeasurable sufferings brought upon the Tibetans and other oppressed peoples by the communist regime.

The Regional Tibetan Women’s Association organized a candle light vigil from the Mcleod Bus Station to the Tsuglakhang in the evening in solidarity with the Tibetans inside Tibet and in opposition to the festivities carried out in China marking 60 years of “tyranny and authoritarian rule” of the Chinese Communist Party.