Thousands marched in rallies around the world on Sunday and more than 2,100 towns – mostly across Europe – hoisted the Tibetan flag to mark the 65th anniversary of the Tibetan Uprising against China.
March 10 commemorates the 1959 uprising against Chinese rule, when thousands were killed, and Tibetans have used the day to honor their courage, press China to stop its repression of Tibetans and voice their hope for a homeland where they can live freely.
In Dharamsala, India – home of the Dalai Lama, the Tibetan Buddhist spiritual leader – crowds listened to speeches and later marched through the hillside town, chanting and carrying banners and Tibetan flags, which are banned inside Tibet.
On a hot, sunny day in Victoria, Australia, dozens of Tibetan repeated the scene, walking along a city sidewalk, holding Tibetan flags and banners saying “Free Tibet.”
Marches also took place in Paris, Vienna, Geneva, New York, Toronto and Taipei.
And in Washington D.C., Tibetans from across the United States gathered to lobby lawmakers to pass the Resolve Tibet Act, which pressures the Chinese government to restart negotiations with the Dalai Lama’s envoys or the democratically elected leaders of the Tibetan people.
The talks have been stalled since 2010. The bill passed in the House of Representatives on Feb. 15 and is now up for Senate approval.
Dam protests
Policymakers and activists also called on China to release the more than 1,000 Tibetans arrested in February for peacefully protesting the construction of a massive dam project on the Drichu River in Dege county, a Tibetan-populated area of Sichuan province.
The project is expected to result in the forced resettlement of at least two major communities near the river and the submersion of at least six historical and religious significant monasteries.
“It is only to be expected that we demand that all the innocent and peaceful Dege Tibetans who had been arrested be released immediately,” said Khenpo Sonam Tenphel, speaker of the Tibetan parliament-in-exile, when reading the body’s official statement.
The weekend rallies also marked the 35th anniversary of martial law imposed on March 5, 1989, and the anniversary of the peaceful protests that erupted across Tibet in 2008, said Sikyong Penpa Tsering, president of the Central Tibetan Administration, in the cabinet’s March 10 statement.
“Since 2009, 157 Tibetans are known to have self-immolated for more freedom inside Tibet and for the return of His Holiness the Dalai Lama to Tibet,” he said.
“On this solemn occasion, we remember and offer our prayers in honor of our compatriots who have given their lives for the cause of Tibet,” he said. “We stand in solidarity with those who are still suffering under the brutal occupation of the People’s Republic of China.”
Flags raised, protest in New Delhi dispersed
In another way to recognize the day, more than 2,100 towns, municipalities, and counties around the world hoisted the Tibetan national flag.
In Europe alone, more than 800 Tibetan flags were raised outside state or town halls in the Czech Republic, 600-some in France and another 458 in Germany.
In the United States, Gov. Tony Evers of Wisconsin officially declared March 10 as Tibet Day in his state, while raising the Tibetan national flag at the Madison City-County building.
Flags were also hoisted in other parts of the country., including Boston and El Cerrito, Santa Barbara, Berkeley, and Richmond in California, East Rutherford in New Jersey and Burlington in Vermont.
On Monday, 35 members of the Tibetan Youth Congress were arrested after holding a protest outside the Chinese Embassy in New Delhi, India.
Authorities grabbed demonstrators holding signs and Tibetan flags and carried them by their arms and legs to a green bus that drove them away. The arrested activists were charged with trying to storm the embassy and later released on bail late Monday.
The protest was meant to draw attention to human rights violations inside Tibet, China’s use of boarding schools run only in Mandarin – threatening to erase the Tibetan language – the forced collection of DNA samples as a surveillance tool and arrest of dam protesters in Dege, said Gonpo Dhondup, president of the Tibetan Youth Congress.
Written by Tenzin Pema for RFA Tibetan. Edited by Roseanne Gerin and Malcolm Foster.