Dharamsala, Jan. 28 – Around 100 Tibetans took to the streets yesterday in Berne, Switzerland, to protest Chinese Prime Minister Wen Jiabao who is in the country for the World Economic Forum in Davos.
Special arrangements have been made for Wen Jiabao’s security probably due to fear of disruption ten years ago of Chinese president Jiang Zemin’s visit to Berne by Tibetan protestors. The Federal Square and adjacent streets were blocked to traffic, and staff at the Federal Parliament and other federal buildings were asked to keep all doors and windows closed.
The Tibetan protestors carried banners and Tibetan national flags, shouted slogans outside the buildings. 21 Tibetans were removed forcefully from the site and arrested.
Loten Namling, a Tibetan musician residing in Switzerland, who is among those arrested by police, said, “We showed to the Chinese prime minister that we Tibetans are still alive and we will fight till Tibet gets her freedom.”
Ms. Tenzin Tsedön, media officer of the Tibetan Youth Association in Europe, said, “Many Tibetans were killed, many have been imprisoned, and many are still missing in Tibet, and we Tibetans who are living in free countries must speak out for them.”
“If the Chinese regime can show its muscle here in Switzerland, imagine what they can do to the Tibetans in Tibet,” said Norzin Dolkar, a member of the Tibetan Youth Association in Europe before being forcefully removed by police.
The Tibetan activists who were removed from the protest site are currently held under police custody.
