Students carry coffin march protesting killings in Tibet/ENG

2012. január 30./Phayul.com/TibetPress

DHARAMSHALA, January 30: Tibetan students in the Indian capital New Delhi took out a protest march from Delhi University to Jantar Mantar carrying coffins, symbolic of the Tibetans who were shot dead in Chinese police firings last week.

The students belonging to the largest pro-independence group in exile, the Tibetan Youth Congress, paraded the coffins draped in Tibetan national flags – a sign of the highest national honour.

"We marched with the symbolic coffins to honour the martyrs of Tibet who have passed away either due to self-immolation or police firings,” the students said.

Since March 2011, 16 Tibetans have set themselves ablaze calling for the return of the exiled Tibetan spiritual leader His Holiness the Dalai Lama and protesting China’s continued occupation of Tibet.

Following the fiery wave of self-immolations, Tibetans have come out on the streets, expressing solidarity with the self-immolaters and calling for continued activism and a boycott of celebrations during the Tibetan new year ‘Losar’ next month.

At least a dozen Tibetans are feared to have been killed in Chinese police firings on unarmed Tibetan demonstrators in three separate incidents in Serthar, Ngaba and Drango region of Tibet, last week. Scores of Tibetans have suffered serious injuries.

Blaming China’s occupation and its repressive policies in Tibet for the ongoing crisis, the students said that the “only and ultimate solution” to the Tibetan issue is independence.

"The root cause of all such critical situations is China's continuous occupation of Tibet, that must be put to an end," the students said in a release.

In a show of solidarity with Tibetans in Tibet, Kalon Tripa Dr Lobsang Sangay last week urged Tibetans and Tibet supporters all over the world to take part in a global vigil on Wednesday, February 8.

“Let’s send a loud and clear message to the Chinese government that violence and killing of innocent Tibetans is unacceptable,” Dr Sangay said.

Members of the Tibetan Parliament-in-Exile have declared that they will sit on a hunger fast on the first day of Tibetan new year ‘Losar’ while urging all Tibetans to observe fasting on the day.
By Tendar Tsering