By Nick Gulotta
New York City, October 31st – Members of Students for a Free Tibet, the Regional Tibetan Youth Congress of NY and NJ, and the U.S. Tibet Committee today protested China’s Olympic Truce Resolution in front of the United Nations.
At approximately 11:30 am around 15 protesters began chanting slogans, distributing flyers, and displaying banners reading “One World, One Dream: Free Tibet” and “Boycott Beijing 2008 Olympics” on New York’s crowded First Avenue. The protest comes on the day of China’s introduction of their Olympic Truce Resolution to the United Nations General Assembly.
The Resolution, entitled “Building a Peaceful and Better World through Sport and the Olympic Ideal” is introduced before every Olympic Games by the host country. It calls on UN member states to uphold the Olympic ideals during the Olympic Games; according to the International Olympic Committee, it is meant to contribute to the “peaceful and diplomatic solutions to the conflicts around the world.”
The protesters were also protesting the Chinese governments recently intensified crackdown on freedom of speech and assembly in Tibet, especially following the Congressional Gold Medal ceremony on October 17th in Washington, DC.
The protesters were told by European journalists covering the event that “they could hear them from within the United Nations” and that they “were heard by the Chinese leaders inside.”
For more information, please go to: www.StudentsforaFreeTibet.org, www.TibetanYouthCongress.us, and http://ustibetcommittee.org
Nick Gulotta can be contacted at Nick@StudentsforaFreeTibet.org
