AS CHINA INTENSIFIES CRACKDOWN, TIBETANS DEMAND INTERNATIONAL OLYMPIC COMMITTEE EXCLUDE TIBETAN AREAS FROM TORCH RELAY
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Their Link
March 18, 2008
Contact: Lhadon Tethong in Dharamsala, India, +91-9805-237-015
Tenzin Dorjee in New York, +1-646-724-0748
Matt Whitticase in London, +44-7515-788-456
AS CHINA INTENSIFIES CRACKDOWN, TIBETANS DEMAND INTERNATIONAL OLYMPIC COMMITTEE EXCLUDE TIBETAN AREAS FROM TORCH RELAY
New York/London – As Tibetans in Tibet brace themselves for an increased crackdown by Chinese military forces after passing the so-called “surrender deadline” Monday night, Tibetans and supporters worldwide are increasing pressure on the International Olympic Committee to immediately withdraw Lhasa, the Tibet Autonomous Region and the Tibetan provinces of Amdo and Kham now annexed into China's Qinghai, Sichuan, Yunnan, and Gansu provinces from the Olympic torch relay route. Despite growing reports of arbitrary arrests, house-to-house raids, killings, and even beatings of schoolchildren, the Beijing Olympic Organizing Committee (BOCOG) stated on Saturday that preparations for the Mount Everest leg of the torch run were “proceeding very smoothly and according to schedule.”
“China must not be allowed to parade the Olympic torch through Tibet while hundreds, possibly thousands, of Tibetans are tortured and brutalized in Chinese detention cells,” said Matt Whitticase, of Free Tibet Campaign. “Unless the IOC wants the Olympic Torch to become a symbol of bloodshed and oppression, they must immediately withdraw all Tibetan provinces from the Olympic Torch relay route.” The Torch Relay begins in Greece in six days.
In a letter faxed on Saturday to the International Olympic Committee and hand-delivered today by Tibetans during a rally in Lausanne, Switzerland, 150 Tibet support organizations – under the umbrella of the International Tibet Support Network – demanded that the IOC "immediately remove Tibet from the Beijing Olympic Torch Relay route." They also called on IOC President Jacques Rogge to make a public statement of concern about the current situation in Tibet. Over 3,800 people have faxed letters to the IOC echoing these calls since Saturday.
“As we hear reports of Tibetan school children being beaten and arrested for peacefully calling for the return of the Dalai Lama to Tibet, it is unthinkable that the IOC would continue to move forward with ‘business as usual,’” said Tenzin Dorjee, Deputy Director of Students for a Free Tibet. “The IOC is under the illusion that it can ignore China’s brutality in Tibet, but when China has made Tibet a central part of its Olympics propaganda – including running the torch up Mount Everest – silence now makes the IOC complicit in China’s ruthless policies.”
Protests continue to be reported from all corners of Tibet yesterday, including at several high schools and universities. A twenty-four hour hunger strike and protest was held by hundreds of students at the North Western Nationality University in Lanzhou. In Beijing dozens of Tibetan students at National Minorities University staged a daring vigil in solidarity with the protests inside Tibet. As the Chinese government continues to maintain a media blackout in many cities, Tibetans fear that the worst crackdown has yet to come.
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Their Link
March 18, 2008
Contact: Lhadon Tethong in Dharamsala, India, +91-9805-237-015
Tenzin Dorjee in New York, +1-646-724-0748
Matt Whitticase in London, +44-7515-788-456
AS CHINA INTENSIFIES CRACKDOWN, TIBETANS DEMAND INTERNATIONAL OLYMPIC COMMITTEE EXCLUDE TIBETAN AREAS FROM TORCH RELAY
New York/London – As Tibetans in Tibet brace themselves for an increased crackdown by Chinese military forces after passing the so-called “surrender deadline” Monday night, Tibetans and supporters worldwide are increasing pressure on the International Olympic Committee to immediately withdraw Lhasa, the Tibet Autonomous Region and the Tibetan provinces of Amdo and Kham now annexed into China's Qinghai, Sichuan, Yunnan, and Gansu provinces from the Olympic torch relay route. Despite growing reports of arbitrary arrests, house-to-house raids, killings, and even beatings of schoolchildren, the Beijing Olympic Organizing Committee (BOCOG) stated on Saturday that preparations for the Mount Everest leg of the torch run were “proceeding very smoothly and according to schedule.”
“China must not be allowed to parade the Olympic torch through Tibet while hundreds, possibly thousands, of Tibetans are tortured and brutalized in Chinese detention cells,” said Matt Whitticase, of Free Tibet Campaign. “Unless the IOC wants the Olympic Torch to become a symbol of bloodshed and oppression, they must immediately withdraw all Tibetan provinces from the Olympic Torch relay route.” The Torch Relay begins in Greece in six days.
In a letter faxed on Saturday to the International Olympic Committee and hand-delivered today by Tibetans during a rally in Lausanne, Switzerland, 150 Tibet support organizations – under the umbrella of the International Tibet Support Network – demanded that the IOC "immediately remove Tibet from the Beijing Olympic Torch Relay route." They also called on IOC President Jacques Rogge to make a public statement of concern about the current situation in Tibet. Over 3,800 people have faxed letters to the IOC echoing these calls since Saturday.
“As we hear reports of Tibetan school children being beaten and arrested for peacefully calling for the return of the Dalai Lama to Tibet, it is unthinkable that the IOC would continue to move forward with ‘business as usual,’” said Tenzin Dorjee, Deputy Director of Students for a Free Tibet. “The IOC is under the illusion that it can ignore China’s brutality in Tibet, but when China has made Tibet a central part of its Olympics propaganda – including running the torch up Mount Everest – silence now makes the IOC complicit in China’s ruthless policies.”
Protests continue to be reported from all corners of Tibet yesterday, including at several high schools and universities. A twenty-four hour hunger strike and protest was held by hundreds of students at the North Western Nationality University in Lanzhou. In Beijing dozens of Tibetan students at National Minorities University staged a daring vigil in solidarity with the protests inside Tibet. As the Chinese government continues to maintain a media blackout in many cities, Tibetans fear that the worst crackdown has yet to come.
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