Washington: Thousands of Tibetan protesters marched through Washington protesting against Chinese President Xi Jinping’s recent visit to the US, carrying Tibetan flags and placards with slogans that read, “Xi Jinping is guilty of genocide” and “Tibet was never a part of China,” a report has stated.
It noted that the demonstration brought together a broader coalition of Uyghur, Southern Mongolian, Chinese democracy, Taiwanese, Burmese, Falun Gong and Chinese Christian groups that have suffered under the Chinese Communist Party.
The protest took place on Thursday as Xi Jinping arrived in Washington for his first State Visit to the US capital in more than a decade. More than 3,000 Tibetans gathered to protest Xi’s visit to the White House, in what organisers described as the largest-ever Tibetan rally in North America, organised by the Tibetan Youth Congress (TYC) with support from other Tibetan activist groups, according to a report in online magazine ‘The Diplomat’.
“The protesters came with demands that they said should be part of the China-US relationship: that Trump raise human rights with Xi, that China release political and religious prisoners, and that Tibetans be allowed to preserve their language and culture. The group also demanded the repeal of China’s new Ethnic Unity and Progress Promotion Law, which took effect in July and promotes what Beijing calls a shared sense of identity among China’s 56 ethnic groups,” the report mentioned.
Former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Democratic US Representative Jim McGovern joined the rally.
McGovern called for human rights to be part of US President Donald Trump’s discussions with Xi, The Diplomat highlighted.
“No Xi in DC without human rights,” he told the crowd.
He also criticised Republicans in Congress for declining to back efforts calling on the administration to raise human rights concerns with Beijing.
“Are they afraid of Donald Trump? Are they afraid he’ll be offended if they ask him to ask Xi to release prisoners of conscience?” The Diplomat quoted McGovern as saying.
Expressing solidarity with the protesters, Pelosi drew attention to human rights abuses in Tibet and urged the release of those imprisoned for their beliefs.
“For many Tibetan protesters, Thursday’s demonstration was also shaped by the death of Lobga Rangzen, a longtime Tibetan independence activist who died after self-immolating outside the United Nations in New York on July 2. Rangzen, 52, had called for Tibetan independence and unity in a final message before setting himself on fire,” the report detailed.
Jigme Ugen, president of the Tibetan National Congress, said the large turnout demonstrated that the Tibetan independence movement remained active.
“This is the biggest gathering, as such, to not just protest Xi Jinping, but also to tell the world and the U.S. government that the Tibetan movement, and the call for Tibetan independence, is still very much alive,” The Diplomat quoted Ugen as saying.
(IANS)
