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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 for download at http://drop.io/tpum0604
