Tibetans protest against China, appeal boycott of Winter Olympics
Tibetan demonstrators from across Europe marched 3km from the IOC building in Lausanne to the Swiss city’s Olympic Museum, a day before the 2022 Winter Games’ opening ceremony in the Chinese capital.
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New Delhi, Feb 4: Tibetan-Indians protested against China in front of the Chinese embassy in Delhi today. They appealed to boycott the Beijing winter Olympics. This was followed by massive protests by Tibetans in Switzerland in front of IOC headquarters.
Around 500 Tibetans marched outside the International Olympic Committee headquarters on Thursday, led by an activist on skis dragging the Chinese flag behind him, to protest against Beijing hosting the Games.
Tibetan demonstrators from across Europe marched 3km from the IOC building in Lausanne to the Swiss city’s Olympic Museum, a day before the 2022 Winter Games’ opening ceremony in the Chinese capital.
There were also demonstrations in other world cities, including Los Angeles and San Francisco. Protesters in Lausanne, many carrying Tibetan flags, marched behind banners reading “Boycott Beijing Winter Olympics”, “Stop human rights violations in Tibet” and “Games of shame”.
Tibetan artist Loten Namling, who has lived in Switzerland for 32 years, led the procession on skis painted with the word “freedom”. “The reason why I’m dragging the Chinese flag is China destroyed my country. China destroyed my culture. Let them realize how painful it is for us,” he said.
“Never, ever should they give the Olympics to mass murderers and dictators. It’s time to say stop.”
Demonstrators chanted “No rights, no Games” and “Beijing Olympics: genocide Games” as they marched past the Olympic rings.
Meanwhile, student activists got on the roof of the IOC entrance to hold up a banner reading “No Beijing 2022”.
One placard displayed a skier in front of a tank with the Olympic rings for wheels, replicating the famous photograph of the lone protester blocking a column of tanks during Beijing’s deadly 1989 Tiananmen Square crackdown.
Another said: “Don’t let Beijing 2022 become Berlin 1936”. The lead-up to the Winter Games has been overshadowed by human rights concerns, the Covid-19 pandemic, and even fears about the Chinese government snooping on athletes.
Karma Choekyi, president of the Tibetan community in Switzerland, organized the Lausanne protest.
She claimed the Olympics and their financial backers had turned a blind eye to the civil liberties situation in China.
“The Chinese communist regime is empowered and they feel this kind of Games legitimizes their right to crack down on the human rights of the people under them,” she said.
“We condemn the IOC and the sponsors for making this happen.” Tibet has alternated over the centuries between independence and control by China, which says it “peacefully liberated” the rugged plateau in 1951 and brought infrastructure and education to the previously underdeveloped region.
But many exiled Tibetans accuse the Chinese central government of religious repression, torture, and eroding their culture.
Bharati Web
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