DHARAMSHALA, September 10: The Tibetan ‘Flame of Truth’ torch brought its campaign to the big apple as Tibetans and supporters marched for UN help and global intervention in the Tibet crisis, Saturday.
Hundreds of people, carrying Tibetan national flags and pictures of Tibetan self-immolators, marched from the Office of Tibet, passed through Times Square, and concluded the relay at the Chinese Consulate.
After campaigning throughout India, the second leg of the relay, initiated by the Dharamshala based Tibetan Parliament-in-Exile, to express “solidarity with the courageous and selfless acts” of Tibetans inside Tibet, was flagged off simultaneously in North America, Europe and Australia on September 2, the 52nd Tibetan Democracy Day.
“The Chinese government has driven 51 Tibetans to burn themselves in protest of their repression,” said Kunga Thinley, president of the Tibetan Association of New York and New Jersey, the largest Tibetan community in North America in a release.
“It is China’s policies that have created this crisis in Tibet, and we call on World Governments at the United Nations to stand together to hold Beijing accountable for its atrocities in Tibet and to press for fundamental change.”
Speaking at the relay, which will travel across 22 cities in North America, Tsetan Lhagyal, president of the Regional Tibetan Youth Congress NY& NJ, blamed China of “exacerbating the Tibetan people’s suffering and grievances.”
“We are here today to echo the surge of protests in Tibet and to help Tibetans realise their dreams for freedom and for the return of His Holiness to Tibet,” said Lhagyal.
The torch relay also carries a petition calling on the United Nations to discuss the issue of Tibet based on its earlier resolutions, to send an independent international fact-finding delegation to Tibet and to take special responsibility to ensure that the basic aspirations of the Tibetans inside Tibet are fulfilled.
Dadon, president of the Regional Tibetan Women’s Association said the Tibetan spirit of resistance remains “unshakable” despite China’s military clampdown in Tibet.
“China has been unable to stem the tide of self-immolation protests that has resulted in a rising number of mass demonstrations both in the form of prayers for those self-immolating, as well as more confrontational acts of nonviolent protest,” said Dadon.
The relay, after traveling around hundreds of cities all over the world will conclude on December 10, World Human Rights Day, with the submission of the petitions, simultaneously to the UN Headquarters in New York City, UN Human Rights Council in Geneva and UN information office in New Delhi.
