March to Tibet restarts as six leaders released from jail
It’s amazing how the marchers had all these setbacks yet they never gave up and kept fighting for our country. This gives me pride to be a Tibetan antelope. I keep the marchers in my heart and in my prayers. We all will meet again in a Free Country,Tibet.
Tibetan Peoples Uprising Movement Leaders declare March will continue despite temporary setback
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| Marchers walking through Berinag market |
Nainital , June 9 - At approximately 2:30 PM today, the March to Tibet restarted from Berinag after overcoming a temporary setback suffered last week when 265 of the marchers were arrested. The marchers broke into song and joy as they saw the snow-capped Himalayan ranges in the horizon. The leaders of the March, who had been jailed for 11 days in Hardwar jail and released on Sunday June 8th, led a group of 50 Tibetans on what is expected to be the most difficult leg of the march. The five presidents and the March Coordinator had been jailed by Indian police since May 27th, charged under Indian Penal Code Section 151 and CRPC sections 116 and 107.
“China’s long arm is oppressing us even in a free country like India,” said Chime Youngdung, President of the National Democratic Party of Tibet, soon after his release from jail. “The Olympics was supposed to bring more freedom to China and Tibet, but instead China is exporting its oppression to the free world in this Olympic year.”
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“India has shown us the highest degree of hospitality for the past 50 years and we are grateful for it,” said Tsewang Rigzin, President of the Tibetan Youth Congress. “But now we want to return to Tibet and work in solidarity with our brothers and sisters back home to end China’s illegal occupation of Tibet.”
The march from Berinag to Tibet is expected to take more than a week during which the 50 marchers will traverse approximately 180 kilometers along the historical Himalayan trade route. They will reach Tibet around the time when China’s controversial Olympic torch is expected to pass through Lhasa. In April, a chain of global protests in London, Paris, San Francisco and New Delhi turned China’s Olympic torch relay into a colossal failure.
“It will be a long and arduous journey to Tibet,” said Shingza Rinpoche, looking at the Panch Chuli mountains in the distance. “But we will get there eventually. Even the Himalayas can’t stand between us and our brothers and sisters inside Tibet.”
The 265 marchers detained at Berinag were dropped off at Paonta Sahib, at the border of Uttarakhand and Himachal Pradesh, where they received a warm welcome from the local Tibetan communities.
The March to Tibet started on March 10th from Dharamshala, Himachal Pradesh, and reached Banspatan after traversing through many states. Tibetans living in exile in India launched the March to Tibet as part of the Tibetan People’s Uprising Movement. On the same day that the march was launched, monks from monasteries in Lhasa, as well as in eastern Tibet, led nonviolent demonstrations, shouting slogans supporting the Dalai Lama and independence for Tibet. Chinese authorities brutally suppressed peaceful protests that continued for days, leading to rioting in the capital and a wave of large public demonstrations that have rippled across the country.
The March to Tibet and the Tibetan People’s Uprising Movement aim to revive the spirit of the Tibetan National Uprising of 1959, and engage in nonviolent direct action to bring about an end to China’s illegal occupation of Tibet.
