By Namgyal Kunga
New Delhi, April 17 – Thirty one Tibetan schoolchildren, including 6 girls have been arrested today by the police in the Indian capital for protesting at the Chinese embassy. The schoolchildren, mostly in their teens, chained themselves to the fencing that surrounded the embassy and staged a mock die-in. The police took nearly half an hour to cut the chains and separate the students from the fencing.
The incident occurred after four days of the naked protest by Tibetan schoolchildren on April 13. The students have just appeared for their class ten and twelve board exams in different Tibetan schools in India.
Joining calls from Tibetan NGOs and Support Groups to mark April 17th as the Global Day of action against the sentencing to death of two Tibetans by a court in Lhasa, the schoolchildren demanded an immediate withdrawal of the death penalties. The students, however, did not belong to any political group or Tibetan NGO.
The angry students hurled shoes at the Chinese Embassy and chanted slogans calling for freedom and human rights in Tibet.
A Chinese court last week handed down death sentences to Lobsang Gyaltsen and Loyak for their alleged involvement in starting deadly fires in last year’s anti-China unrest in Tibet. Two other people- Tenzin Phuntsok and Kangtsuk were given suspended death sentences with two-year reprieve, while another Dawa Sangpo was sentenced to life imprisonment.
“Tibetans under the Chinese Occupation are not entitled to fair trial. The death sentence handed down on Lobsang Gyaltsen and Loyak stand testimony to how Tibetans in Tibet are being tried under arbitrary charges and unfair judicial practices,” said Tashi Dhondup, a student from Bylakuppe Tibetan Children’s Village School.
The schoolchildren are currently held at Chanakyapuri police station and are expected to be shifted to Tihar jail later in the day.
Meanwhile, protests by Tibetans and supporters against the court verdicts are taking place across the globe.
“We call on the International Community to come forward and help us stop the execution of the innocent Tibetans,” said Dickyi, a student from the same school. “This is the time for people of conscience to step in and stop China from committing this heinous crime,” she added as she wiped of her tears.
