From London to Lhasa

Toy tanks escort Chinese President to Buckingham Palace

12.00 London Two remote controlled toy tanks adorned with Chinese flags will escort Chinese President Hu Jintao to Buckingham Palace. Organised by Students For A Free Tibet UK, the tanks will roll alongside the royal procession, as a symbolic reminder to President Hu that his brutal military rule in Tibet will not be forgotten and China’s current occupation of Tibet must end.

Students from over a dozen UK universities unfurled banners reading “Free Tibet” along with hundreds of Tibetans and other supporters, before the toy-tanks were released.

On 9th March 1989, Chinese tanks and thousands of heavily armed troops rolled into the centre of Lhasa, the Tibetan capital, suppressing non-violent demonstrations against China’s occupation of Tibet. Monks were thrown from the tops of buildings, women and children were imprisoned, tortured and murdered, simply for raising a Tibetan flag, or shouting freedom slogans. The Chinese troops acted under the direction of Hu Jintao, then Communist Party Secretary for the Tibetan Autonomous Region.

“As a civilised democracy, the United Kingdom must not ignore the atrocities committed by the Chinese government in Tibet,” said Alice Speller, National Coordinator of Students for a Free Tibet UK. “Hu Jintao’s past and present record of human rights violations against the Tibetan people makes him undeserving of the dignity of a royal procession,” she added.

In Tibet today, Tibetans can be arrested, tortured and imprisoned for possessing a photo of the Dalai Lama or expressing hope for the return of Tibetan sovereignty. “Our political leaders will fail their obligation to the people of this country, and their moral responsibilities as human beings, unless they raise the issue of China’s occupation of Tibet during their meetings with President Hu.” Miss Speller continued.

The students likened their activities in support of Tibetan freedom to the international support that helped end the communist dictatorships in Poland, Czechslovakia and East Germany. They hoped their protest of Hu Jintao would help bring an end to China’s unjust occupation of Tibet and help create a more peaceful world.

SFT UK is part of the international organization Students for a Free Tibet (SFT), with Headquarters in New York andoffices in Vancouver, Canada and Dharamsala, India, seat of the Tibetan government-in-exile. Through education,grassroots organizing, and non-violent direct action, SFT campaigns for Tibetans fundamental right to political freedom.

For Further details: www.sftuk.org or www.sftuk.blogspot.com