Dharamsala, October 1 – Several Tibetans and Tibet supporters voiced their anger in front of the Empire State Building, the city’s highest beacon that was lit yesterday red and yellow in honor of the 60th anniversary of the People’s Republic of China. The Tibetans from various Tibetan groups based in the city held placards and banners in protest of what they called “Empire State Building’s shameful glow”. The Tibetans shouted anti China slogans and told tourists that China is a liar and the Empire State Building is helping it lie.
Just minutes after the Empire State Building was lit with colours of the Chinese national flag, activists from Students for a Free Tibet projected a massive Tibetan flag on an adjacent building. The projection lasted for over two hours and displayed messages reading “Free Tibet”, Free China”, and “China out of Tibet”.
Another projection action took place from inside the Empire State Building by human rights groups, projecting “NY [Hearts] Human Rights” on New York’s busy 34th St.
The tower is lit in white most nights, but nearly every week gets lit with different colors to honor holidays and heroes — red, white and blue for Independence Day, green for St. Patrick’s Day, true blue for New York’s Finest.
According to a report by Fox News, the representatives for the building say it won’t incur any extra costs to use the colored floodlights, so taxpayers won’t have to pay a dime. But tourists said it would have been better if the building had stayed white this Wednesday. “It seems a little out of place in New York City, an American city, having communist colors,” said Cathy Crismore of Lancaster, California. “That doesn’t seem right.” New York politicians have paid notice as well, and say they are let down by the light-up. Rep. Anthony Weiner, D-N.Y., said it was a mistake to pay tribute to what he called “a nation with a shameful history on human rights.”
China’s New York consul attended a ceremony that the building’s managers said was to honor “the 1.3 billion Chinese people and the 60th anniversary of their country.”
“Because the Empire State Building is such a cultural icon … this touches a chord close to home for people,” said Lhadon Tethong of Students for a Free Tibet.
Tethong said that the lights on the building “are a symbol of support for the Chinese state — for a totalitarian state,” which ignores the country’s “abominable record on human rights, on liberty.”
