NEW YORK – A group of Tibetan protestors arrived early morning yesterday at the Waldorf-Astoria hotel and stood on the sidewalk for the greater part of the day, holding up protest banners and flags that called for a free Tibet. The group included representatives from Regional Tibetan Youth Congress, Regional Tibetan Women’s Association, Students for a Free Tibet, and the Tibetan Association of NY/NJ.
After waiting for nearly seven hours, Hu’s entourage was due to arrive at about 4:30pm. Minutes before Hu’s convoy drove in, a Chinese man dressed in a suit and surrounded by Chinese security guards started walking toward the several hundred Chinese flagwavers, who were part of the huge welcoming team stationed two blocks north of the hotel. At seeing the Chinese dignitary, who was later identified as China’s Foreign Minister Li Zhaoxing, several Tibetans who were waiting quietly on the sidewalk, pulled out Tibetan flags from their pockets and started waving them. Within seconds, the Foreign Minister turned around and headed back for the hotel, but not before a group of about thirty Tibetans and several Falun Gong demonstrators, fiercely chanting “Shame on China!” and “Free Tibet Now!” surrounded him from all sides.
“He looked shaken!” said Tenzin Palkyi, a graduate of Berea College and Tibetan Children’s Village. “I have never got so close to a Chinese leader, and I have never seen anyone look so pale with fear. But I think it’s fortunate that even in all the scuffle, we never got violent.”
The police had a difficult time breaking up the scuffle, even after the Chinese Foreign Minister was safely escorted back to the hotel. New York based Sinovision reporter Zhang Wu, who allegedly kicked a Tibetan in the knee, started cursing in English at the Tibetan crowd. The police heavily intervened and seperated the Tibetans and the Chinese, after which the commotion died down.
Kusho Sonam Wangdu, a TYC board member, roughed some pushing and shoving from the Sinovision reporter. “But right now, I’m feeling great!” he said. “There is a deep feeling of satisfaction because I screamed in the Foreign Minister’s ears the very slogans that my fellow Tibetans back home dare not whisper. That’s the joy of free speech that I want my fellow Tibetans to enjoy.”
Demonstrations and protests are being planned for Thursday and Friday.
For information, please visit studentsforafreetibet.org or contact:
Gyatso la, President of TYC, at (917) 385 0362
Tendor, SFT, at (646) 724 0748
