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March 29, 2012

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TIBET ACTIVISTS UNFURL A HUGE BANNER TO PROTEST HU JINTAO VISIT;
ELEVEN ARRESTED FOR CALLING FOR FREEDOM AND AN END TO HU JINTAO'S FAILED POLICIES IN TIBET

New Delhi - Eleven more Tibetan activists from Students for a Free Tibet-India and Regional Tibetan Youth Congress, Dharamsala were arrested for protesting Chinese President Hu Jintao. The protest took place at  around 12.20 pm where the activists were arrested for unfurling a large 5.5 x 12 feet-long banner reading “HU JINTAO: CHINA’S FAILED LEADER. FREE TIBET” from the footbridge leading to Saint Martin Marg toward the Taj Palace Hotel.

The action, the third in a series, took place following the demise of Jamphel Yeshi, 27, who passed away yesterday morning at 7.30 am from the severe burns caused by setting himself on fire on March 26 at Jantar Mantar to protest Hu Jintao’s BRICS visit in India and China’s crackdown in Tibet. In Tibet, another Tibetan monk, 20 year-old Sherab, set himself on fire and died yesterday at around 7.10 pm (Tibet Time) in the main street of Cha Township, Ngaba (Chinese: Aba) County, Ngaba Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture, Sichuan Province.

"Hu Jintao's failed leadership has brought nothing but increased repression and military control of Tibet and he must be held accountable for his human rights atrocities," said Tenzin Yonten, an activist of Students for a Free Tibet - India. “Tibetans in Tibet – and in exile – have been galvanized by the events of the past several months, and are doing everything possible to build political momentum for an international diplomatic intervention to save Tibetan lives.”

Hu Jintao, in his last year of tenure before stepping down as the leader of the Communist party of China, has proved a failed leader for his failed policies in Tibet which have created a human right crisis, provoking an unprecedented wave of self-immolations by Tibetan monks, nuns and laypeople. There have been over 30 self-immolations in Tibet, 18 since January 2012, all by Tibetans calling for freedom for Tibet and the return of the Dalai Lama. The same calls for freedom were also heard during a recent wave of large-scale peaceful protests in Tibet. Chinese security forces responded to this resistance by opening fire on crowds and then arresting and disappearing people suspected of being involved in the protest.

“Tibetans in Tibet continue to resist China’s oppression and occupation.” said Geleck, an activist of Regional Tibetan Youth Congress, Dharamsala. “I stand here in solidarity to protest HU’s crime towards my people and thereby call all the BRICS leaders to stop Hu Jintao from taking further Tibetan lives."