By Tenzin Palkyi, Phayul Special Correspondent
Washington, DC: Adding voice to the global call to protest the official celebrations of what China claims the 60th anniversary of Tibet’s peaceful liberation, Tibetans and Tibet supporters protested in front of the Chinese Embassy in the nation’s capital Wednesday.
The protestors, most of whom are in town to attend the 10 day Kalachakra ‘Wheel of Time’ teachings, joined various groups across Asia and Europe to mark July 13 as the Global Day of Action for Tibet: 60 Years of Oppression.
Speaking at the protest rally, Tenzin Dorjee, Executive Director of Students for a Free Tibet said that the greatest threat to freedom today was China.
“Their number one export is oppression”, Dorjee said.
Carrying life-size images of Tenzin Delek Rinpoche, Dhondup Wangchen and Runggye Adak and chanting slogans for greater religious and political freedom in Tibet, the fifty-plus protestors made their presence felt.
“The Chinese government has failed in Tibet”, added Tenzin Dorjee. “China’s leaders tried to win the hearts and minds of Tibetan people. They tried to assimilate Tibetans and have failed miserably at both.”
Alim Seytoff, president of Uyghur American Association, lending support to the rally said, “If the Tibetans, Mongolians and Uyghurs join forces and rise up together, the Chinese government will fail”.
Former political prisoners Ngawang Sangdrol and Phuntsok Nyidron also joined the rally and sang freedom songs. As part of the Drapchi singing nuns, the duo had secretly recorded and smuggled out tapes of their freedom songs from the infamous Drapchi prison in Tibet.
This protest was organised by Students for a Free Tibet.
