Tibetans protest in myriad ways against Hu's visit
Nov 21, 2006 - 1:07:26 AM
, Reviewed by: Priya Saxena
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There are about 500 Tibetans living in exile there with most of them running shops and restaurants.
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By Indo Asian News Service,
[RxPG] New Delhi/Shillong, Nov 20 (IANS) Tibetan refugees in India held demonstrations Monday, ranging from reciting poetry and singing songs of freedom to downing their shop shutters, as they protested the visit of Chinese President Hu Jintao to India.
More than 1,000 Tibetans chanted anti-China slogans in New Delhi and called for an end to Chinese rule of Tibet, hours before Hu was set to arrive in the Indian capital, the first trip by a Chinese President to this country in a decade.
In the northeastern city of Shillong, scores of Tibetan traders downed their shop shutters protesting Hu's visit.
The Jantar Mantar, a popular place for protests about a kilometre away from Parliament House in New Delhi, was full of Tibetans Monday as they held their 'song and dance' protest.
'The protest is unique as songs and dances are being held and members will be given an opportunity to recite their poems and give speeches,' said Lhadon Tethong, executive director of Students for Free Tibet.
'We have also organised a candle light vigil in the evening,' she said.
Delhi Police held consultations with the Tibetans to ensure they did not violate law and order.
Tibetans started flocking to India after their spiritual leader, the Dalai Lama, fled Tibet in 1959 after a failed uprising, and settled in Dharamsala in Himachal Pradesh in north India.
There are over 100,000 Tibetan refugees in India, with nearly 7,000 living in the Indian capital.
Tethong alleged that the police had used pressure tactics against them and asked them to vacate a community hall they had taken on rent in Chanakyapuri area, located in the diplomatic zone of the capital.
'Over 500 protesters were living in it. The police told us that if we vacate the hall then we would be allowed to gather at Jantar Mantar and carry on with the protest. We were given a personal guarantee by some of the senior officials of the police,' she added.
She said that most of those who had been told to leave the community hall had come from different parts of the country, especially Arunachal Pradesh and Dharamsala in Himachal Pradesh, home of Tibetan leader the Dalai Lama.
Organisations like Friends of Tibet and Students for Free Tibet are organising the protests in Delhi.
In Shillong, a leader of the Regional Tibetan Youth Congress told IANS: 'We strongly oppose the Chinese president's visit to India as he was the man responsible for a military assault on peaceful demonstrators in Tibet in 1989 when he was the chairman of the Tibet Autonomous Region.'
There are about 500 Tibetans living in exile there with most of them running shops and restaurants.
Apart from closing their businesses beginning 9 a.m. for three hours, they held a silent prayer in a street corner and distributed leaflets listing the alleged persecution of Tibetans by Chinese authorities.
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