Activists stage a street play showing Panchen Lama in Chinese custody in Dharamsala, India, Saturday, April 25, 2009

Kolkata, Apr 27 (ANI): Tibetan exiles took out a candlelight vigil here last evening protesting against the alleged atrocities by Chinese authorities in their homeland.

The march was organised by the Students of Free Tibet in memory of the victims of Lhasa riots last year and in support of the missing 11th Panchen Lama, Gendhun Chockyi Nyima.

“The reason behind this candlelight vigil is that we are remembering all those people who lost their lives in Lhasa riots last year and yesterday was Gendhun Chockyi Nyima’s birthday. He has been kidnapped by the Chinese and till now we don’t know about his whereabouts. So, we are demanding his release and simultaneously we want our country to be free,” said Kheysang Choden Bhutia, spokesperson of the Students of Free Tibet. (more…)

EXILE NGOs CALL ON INDIAN GOVERNMENT TO TAKE STRONGER STAND ON TIBET

Dharamshala – Tibetans and supporters in the hill town of Dharamsala are marking the 50th anniversary of the Tibetan National Uprising by holding mass rallies, demonstrations and vigils. Similar activities are taking place in hundreds of other cities around the world, from Delhi to New York, Sidney to Vancouver, Kathmandu to Taipei. This year’s anniversary is particularly significant because it marks a half century since the Dalai Lama was forced to flee into exile, and exactly one year since last year’s nationwide Tibetan uprising and the subsequent crackdown by Chinese authorities.

“We are here to speak out for the Tibetan people in Tibet, who for more than half a century have lived under the iron fist of Chinese rule,” said Chime Youngdung of the National Democratic Party of Tibet. “That the occupation of Tibet has unresolved for so long is one of the great disgraces of the modern world.” (more…)

TIBET SEALED OFF AS NEW YEAR AND TIBETAN UPRISING ANNIVERSARY APPROACH

24th, February, 09

Dharamshala - On the eve of the Tibetan New Year, Tibetans in Dharamshala held a protest in solidarity with Tibetans inside Tibet who are under attack from the Chinese government as Tibetan New Year and the upcoming 50th anniversary of the 1959 Tibetan Uprising on March 10th approach. China has flooded Tibet with thousands of troops in recent days and towns and villages are under constant patrol, as the authorities attempt to intimidate Tibetans from carrying out protests or other acts of resistance. The recent clampdown follows ten months of the most repressive political conditions and tightest security in Tibet in three decades.

“The Chinese government is exercising overwhelming force to intimidate and clamp down Tibetans before Losar - the traditional Tibetan New Year - on February 25th and the 50th anniversary of Tibetan National Uprising on March 10th,” said Tenzin Choeying, National Director of Students for a Free Tibet - India. “With foreigners being banned and the state militarized, we are worried that another massacre might undergo unnoticed.” (more…)