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***PHOTOS AND VIDEOS AVAILABLE
For Immediate Release
June 4, 2008
Contact: Tenzin Choedon (English, Tibetan, Hindi): +91 975 696 9133
Pema Dorjee (English, Tibetan, Hindi): +91 992 760 6204
INDIAN POLICE ARREST 265 TIBETANS MARCHING TO TIBET
March had just resumed after 13-day standoff as China prepares to take Olympic torch to Tibet
Nainital - 259 Tibetan marchers and six members of the organizing committee were arrested by police after resuming the March to Tibet following a 13 day stand-off with police. They had covered 16 kilometers when they were arrested at Berinag, approximately 180 kilometers from the Indo-Tibetan border area. Fifty marchers, including leading Tibetan activist Tenzin Tsundue and Shingza Rinpoche of Sera Monastery, stayed behind at the the campsite at Banspatan in Uttarakhand State, determined to continue to Tibet in the event that their fellow marchers were stopped. The five presidents of the NGOs organizing the March and one coordinator are still being held in Roshanabad Jail near Hardwar.
“As China prepares to parade its Olympic torch through Tibet next week in a blatant attempt to legitimize its rule in Tibet, the increasing repression is compounding the Tibetan people’s suffering under China’s illegal occupation,” said Lhakpa Tsering, a marcher as well as an executive member of the Tibetan Youth Congress. “My only wish is to reach Tibet and join my brothers and sisters. Even if I can’t lessen their suffering, I can at least make sure the world knows about their suffering.”
The nonviolent marchers were arrested this afternoon just after entering Berinag, where a heavy deployment of police barred them from proceeding. The marchers immediately locked arms and sat down to form a solid human chain. They chanted slogans demanding China quit Tibet as they were arrested by the police and loaded onto seven buses and three jeeps. The arrests started at 3:30 PM and lasted for an hour and a half. It is not clear where the marchers have been taken.
For the last 13 days, the police have obstructed food rations and imposed tight travel restrictions on Tibetans in the area in order to isolate the marchers. Yesterday, police at Ganai Gangoli checkpoint blocked a truck carrying food to the marchers.
“As Tibetan refugees in India, we have the right to return to our homeland,” said Tenzin Palkyi, a member of the organizing committee. “In 1959, Tibetans came down this road to escape Chinese persecution. Now again, we are walking on the same road but in the opposite direction to join our brethren who are rising up across Tibet to protest China’s occupation.”
The March to Tibet started on March 10th from Dharamshala, Himachal Pradesh, and reached Banspatan after traversing through many states. On the fourth day of the March, the first group of 100 marchers were arrested and put under judicial custody for 14 days. However, a second group of 48 Tibetan exiles resumed the March two days after the arrest and were joined by the first group soon after their release. Since then the march has grown in size, with as many as 300 marchers.
Tibetans living in exile in India launched the March to Tibet as part of the Tibetan People’s Uprising Movement. On the same day that the march was launched, monks from monasteries in Lhasa, as well as in eastern Tibet, led nonviolent demonstrations, shouting slogans supporting the Dalai Lama and independence for Tibet. Chinese authorities brutally suppressed peaceful protests that continued for days, leading to rioting in the capital and a wave of large public demonstrations that have rippled across the country.
The March to Tibet and the Tibetan People’s Uprising Movement aim to revive the spirit of the Tibetan National Uprising of 1959, and engage in nonviolent direct action to bring about an end to China’s illegal occupation of Tibet.
Videos and photos of the marchers are available to download at http://drop.io/tpum0604
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There are 6 comment(s) so far ;)
No surprising. It is naive to believe “As Tibetan refugees in India, we have the right to return to our homeland.” As claimed, you are a refugee and the very first thing for you to understand is to know, respect and obey the rule of the land. India has been quite tolerate for you guys but it does have its own interest that needs to be taken care of, and as a matter of fact, has preset laws to follow. What makes you think that you have the right to totally ignore their interest and their rules and laws for your own gain?
You should be very appreciative that it ends this way without any brutal force being involved. The more trouble you cause for the India government, the more trouble you are going to have under their shelter.
Think for the long term people….
I am very sad to hear that our great nationalist marchers are arrested as they came near to the border of Tibet. I am sure that this time peace march will be successful and reach Tibet without any obstacle. I think if five NGO organise People march like earlier done in Delhi, to support for marcher, I think it will be good. It gives sincere support for the marcher. They would think that entire Tibetans are with them.
I am so much shocked and saddened to know that all our brave fellow Tibetan marchers have been arrested including the five presidents by Indian police force. It is definitely shameful for Indian government for supporting the Chinese brutality activities to peaceful and non-violence Tibetans who are demanding to return to thier homeland.
Tibetans refugees have been in India for almost 50 years and Indian government still treat us as foriegners. We don’t have proper status and still live with refugee cards (RC) with very limited rights. We have to renew the RC every year with lots of uneasy and hurdle. India is the largest democracy country in the world, so what is human rights all about? What is UNO doing. Are not the Tibetans citizen of this planet?
India must release all Tibetan marchers including the five presidents without any conditions.
I sincerely convey my support and solidarity to all brave fellow Tibetan marchers.
Thutop Yuthok
The march is pointless and dangerous. Secretly, I am happy that the marchers were arrested. In India, they were only arrested. If they’d crossed over to China, they are likely to be shot dead !
There is one thing that rules everything else: interest. In this world, you do not deserve anything unless you have something else offered as return. This is not the case for the Tibetans in Indian. What good do Tibetans offer to Indian? Not much but trouble. Just imagine if your neighbor constantly leave their trouble-maker kid to you to sit. It doesn’t matter how good a gentlemen you are, you are going to frown.
Just like any responsible government on this planet, the very first goal of a government is to defend its own national interest. Both India and China are working pretty hard to foster a good relationship with each other so that both countries and their people can benefit. So it is both unrealistic and unreasonable to demand India to sacrifice their own interest for your benefit. You deserve a lot of sympathy, but really not much else. From India’s point of view, you are tolerated but really, not very welcome.
Tibetans all over the word should focus more on these real essential fundamentals rather than pure ideological activism. Earn yourself a good life. Contribute to the society you live in. Show your appreciation to your host. Try to be respected as an achieved scholar or entrepreneur instead of a stubborn monk. For a lot of people, these can benefit them much more than your sincerity. People sympathize you to a certain extend, in the end their patience/interest runs out and you have to learn to earn things with your own hands, not your prayers.
In this regard, China deserves some credit for trying to improve regular Tibetan’s life in Tibet. If you insist that all you need is spiritual life and do not want material life, you will fall further and further behind the society and in the end, the whole Tibet race will be no different than an ancient tribe in the Amazon jungle. If you are lucky, you still get a few pieces collected in museums and if you are not lucky, you end up in ruins that may never be discovered.
If that is what you want, continue what you are doing. Otherwise try to think about facing the reality and living a balanced life. Maybe that will give you a better future.
To all the exiles Tibetans:
Do you really think you guys can realize your independent dream by marching to Lhasa? Please be realistc! Guys. You will never get back to your slavery dream. You guys have been lying for 59years, more and more people around world have realized this. But I think you guys are right, after Aug, people will know China better and nobody will believe you guys. Olympic game is you guys last chance.