March 27, 2008

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Contact: Lhadon Tethong +91 980 523 7015
Tenzin Dorjee +33 625 758 326

Dozens of Tibetan monks disrupt Chinese government organized media tour of Tibet

Monks shout: ‘Tibet is not free,’ risking their lives to send message of freedom to the world

A group of Tibetan monks disrupted a tightly controlled Chinese government media tour in Lhasa today — the only foreign media that has been allowed into Tibet since widespread protests of Chinese rule gripped the nation. As over 20 journalists and their government handlers toured the Jokhang temple in Lhasa, several dozen monks — at great risk to their personal safety — began shouting: “Tibet is not free!” and asserting that the Dalai Lama was not to blame for the recent protests. The monks were immediately taken away by plainclothes police officers.

“In Tibet, where the free expression of political views is met with incarceration and torture, these monks risked everything to show the world that Tibet is not free,” said Lhadon Tethong, Executive Director of Students for a Free Tibet, “While the Chinese government tries to paint a picture of criminal Tibetan riots and many in the press focus on ethnic tensions, the fundamental issue is freedom. The Tibetan people are not and never will be content under Chinese rule. ”

The Chinese government has a long history of organizing state guided tours of Tibet in order to present their biased view of life under occupation. Though this humiliating tactic is well known to Tibetans, this is the first time they have disrupted such a tour on this scale.

“The actions of monks, nuns, and ordinary Tibetans in almost every region of Tibet point to a nationwide uprising,” said Tethong, “Tibetans have suffered under Chinese rule for half a century and in this year of the Olympics – with all eyes on China – Tibetans are risking everything to achieve a free Tibet. This is the uprising of a people against their oppressor and the only possible outcome is freedom.”

This action comes on the heels of Beijing’s announcement that over 660 Tibetans have ‘surrendered’ in the wake of last week’s protests. Tibetans and supporters maintain that Tibetans – knowing the consequences of detainment in one the world's most notorious prison systems – would never give themselves up to Chinese authorities and the arrests are the result of harassment, door-to -door searches, intimidation, and coercion.

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Heather Reddick
Operations Director
Students for a Free Tibet
602 East 14th Street, New York, NY 10009 USA
http://www.studentsforafreetibet.org
Tel: (212) 358-0071
Fax: (212) 358-1771

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