Tibetans of all ages (ranging from 16 to 72), 26 of them from Portland, Oregon and Vancouver, Washington drove to Seattle early Tuesday morning with a lot of energy and excitement. There were some discussions before and during our trip to Seattle about Kashag’s ‘appeal’, but everyone agreed that Kashag has their responsibility and so does every single Tibetan. Everyone was pumped up to get in Hu’s face and tell him personally how strong we feel about Tibet’s Independence; how strong we feel about the missing Panchen Lama; how strong we condemn the Communist Chinese regime in Tibet for committing genocide against our people; how strong we will stand up for our brethren inside Tibet and the list goes on.
We arrived Seattle mid-morning and were informed that Hu will not be arriving at Westin Hotel and we made a mad rush to Fairmont Olympic Hotel – five blocks away. After ten minutes of our arrival near the hotel, we saw Hu’s motorcade coming through and we waved our signs of ‘Independence for Tibet’, ‘China out of Tibet’, Stop Genocide in Tibet’, ‘Release Panchen Lama’ and many others along with our National Flag in his face. There were police and their bicycles in between us and the motorcade and we made sure he saw us. We were the first group Hu saw upon his arrival in downtown Seattle since his “welcoming group” was one block over. Everyone in our group was so delighted that we made there on time and was able to send a strong message to Hu Jintao.
We were then joined by members of Seattle TYC and SFT and chants of Free Tibet started roaring. We could see the strong determination in the eyes of the older Tibetans and the desire to return to our Fatherland. Their determination and desire energized us further and we continued with the slogans. There were lots of media present at the demonstration and some of us were interviewed.
After meeting with Washington State governor and local business leaders, Hu’s security was preparing his departure from the hotel to Microsoft. Tibet supporters were lined up on the sidewalk leading to the freeway and once again we guessed right in terms of his route and ‘Free Tibet’ chants grew louder when his motorcade passed in front of us. Then it was time to load the van and head to Medina (Bill Gate’s neighborhood).
We arrived around 5:30 pm at the protest site in Medina and the police were waiting for us. Seattle TYC had sought the permit for that site and the police showed us our spot – right at the intersection where Hu would pass through on his way to dinner at Bill Gates house. After 20 minutes or so of our arrival, two bus loads of Chinese ‘welcoming group’ arrived and were walking straight towards us but the police stopped them and asked them not enter our reserved area. Normally, the ‘welcoming group’ gets the best spot, but that wasn’t the case this time. We were so delighted and told the police that if this was in Tibet, the Chinese would have stomped all over us and shot us to death. Shortly after, Hu’s motorcade drove by and we made sure he saw our signs and the Tibetan Nationa Flag one last time. We were so satisfied that we made sure Hu saw us three times up close and personal in one day and also made sure his ears were ringing with Free Tibet chants all the way to DC. I was informed that members of Seattle TYC gave him one last taste of ‘Free Tibet’ chants when he returned to the hotel around 9:30 pm.
Our sincere thanks to Tenzin Wangyal and Seattle TYC for all their support and co-ordination of the protest sites especially the one in Medina.
Tsewang Rigzin – President
RTYC Portland/Vancouver
