By Tenzin Choephel
Phayul Correspondent
Kathmandu, April 14 – Over 10 police officers from the Swayambhu Ward visited the venue of the ongoing Tibetan solidarity relay fasting protest at Swayambhu Hill last evening, ordering them to take down the protest banners, the Tibetan national flag and photos of the killings in Tibet on display there.
Jamyang Khedup, a Tibetan community leader said, “Police also threatened to stop the peaceful fasting protest if we don’t listen to their orders”.
The first batch of over 60 Tibetans ended their fasting at 0900 hours and was replaced by another fresh batch to continue with the dissent. Norbu Tsering, one of the Tibetan Camp leaders told Phayul, “This new batch will continue until tomorrow morning and is going to be replaced by another group. Subsequently this will go on for several days.”
At 16:30, over a thousand Tibetans came together for a candlelight vigil around the perimeter of the Swayambhu Hill to pay homage to those who died in Tibet and to show solidarity with Tibetans inside Tibet.
Tibetans have been demonstrating against China in Nepalese Capital since the 10th of last month but have ceased taking their march to the streets following 3rd April as a mark of respect for the Constituent Assembly Elections in Nepal on 10th April. They have once again resumed their protest against China starting with the 24 hours relay fasting protest yesterday. One volunteer told Phayul on anonymity, “Today we staged a peaceful vigil and the fasting will continue tomorrow, there might be more protests by volunteers in the coming days”.
The Maoist Party have so far secured majority of the seats in the elections, the final counts are not over yet, but political analysts are guessing that they would secure a majority in the Assembly. Some of the Tibetans are worried about the situation. Lobsang said, “If the Maoist form the new Government, we don’t know how their policy towards Tibetans will be, they have already said they support the One China policy and anti-Chinese activities should not be allowed in Nepal”.
