More than fifty Tibetans and American supporters gathered this passed Saturday evening in downtown Berkeley for a candle light vigil organized by San Francisco Tibetan Youth Congress (SFTYC).
SFTYC President Tenzin Wangchuk described the importance of the vigil as following, “ Today is 57th Human Rights Day. We are gathered here to draw world attention to the worsening human rights situation in Tibet, and, particularly, to the recent crackdown in Drepung monastery, Lhasa. Though we have unconfirmed report about the number of monks killed during the crackdown, we have no doubt in our mind about the brutality with which the Chinese military always act and disregard human rights. We demand that Chinese authorities to immediately stop such inhuman treatment of the Tibetan people inside Tibet.”
Prior to the candle light vigil, a thirty minutes prayer was summoned for the benefit of those brave Tibetans suffering under the Chinese rule.
It was followed by speeches from various Bay Area Tibet Support Groups:San Francisco Tibetan Youth Congress (SFTYC), Tibetan Association of Northern California (TANC), and Students for a Free Tibet (SFT) demanding an end to the oppression in Tibet. Julia, a long time supporter of the Tibetan struggle, an artist by profession, presented freedom songs that immediately won people’s hearts. Patriotic Tibetan songs were performed by Tsedor and Thuchin of Semshuk Punda, a Tibetan musical group of youngsters equally active in keeping alive the light of our struggle and identity as Tibetan people.
San Francisco Tibetan Youth Congress will organize a strong protest outside the Chinese Consulate in San Francisco this coming Friday, December 14, 2005. The protest will be from 2-5 p.m. Fellow Tibetans in the Bay Area are requested to join the protest. We expect that the Chinese authority will hear our rage and condemnation about the deteriorating state of human rights in Tibet.
