Tibetans and supporters protest the Chinese
government's visit to Canada and Chinese
involvement in Tibet during a G20 rally Saturday.
Inside Toronto (Canada)
June 26, 2010

The G20 protests turned violent, but Parkdale’s
Tibetan community was downtown earlier today to
peacefully voice their opposition to the Chinese occupation of their homeland.

Waving Tibetan flags and holding signs that read
"Stop Genocide in Tibet" and "Free Tibet," a few
hundred Tibetan people and their supporters
joined the protest march this afternoon yelling
"Shame on China, the world is watching."

Thupten Wangyal, past president of the Canadian
Tibetan Association of Ontario, said the Tibetan
group of protestors strategically placed their
group at the end of the parade of protestors,
largely labour groups, who made their way from
Queen’s Park, at University Avenue and College
Street, to the intersection of Queen Street West and Spadina Avenue.

"We are purposefully at the back because we want
to be peaceful always. We want to send a strong
message that we are peaceful," said Wangyal. "At
the same time we want to get the message to the
Chinese leaders and the G20 people."

The Canadian Tibetan Association is asking Prime
Minister Stephen Harper to raise a number of
issues related to Tibet with the President of
China, Hu Jintao, who is attending the G20 talks in Toronto.

"Our main concern is that the Chinese oppression
is still going on inside Tibet, and China should
respect international law. China must stop
torturing Tibetans and the Tibetan people must
enjoy religious freedom, freedom of speech, and
that is the message," Wangyal said.

He also points out the Tibetan people and their
supporters are also concerned about the
environment, the exploitation of Tibet’s natural
resources and the protection of human rights in Tibet.

Wangyal, who lives in south Parkdale, said he
wasn’t sure what additional activities the
Tibetan protesters and their supporters have
planned for the weekend, but he did know they
would continue to try to have their voice heard in a peaceful manner.