Blue Mountains Councillors votes unanimously to raise Tibetan flag over its chambers on Tibetan National Uprising Day
DHARAMSALA, Sept 21: Blue Mountains, a mountainous region in New South Wales, Australia has decided to fly the Tibetan National Flag over its Council Chambers next year during the Tibetan national uprising day in solidarity with the Tibetan people.
“The Tibetan flag will fly over Blue Mountains Council chambers next year to mark the 60th anniversary of the Tibetan uprising against invasion by China,” reports the Blue Mountains Gazette.
According to the report, the Councillors have unanimously voted at a weekly meeting to fly the Tibetan national flag over the Katoomba chambers on the 60th Tibetan National Uprising day in 2019 and in subsequent years on every March 10, to show support for the Tibetan people, including the Tibetan refugees settled in the Mountains.
“The Mountains had a long association with the people of Tibet, many of whom have settled in the area,” Councillor Greens Cr Kerry Brown who moved the notice of motion was quoted as saying in the report.
Councillor Brown has further said that many people were not aware of how much the Tibetan people suffered under Chinese occupation because they were not loud or angry protesters but gentle people from an “amazing culture”.
“Even if China withdrew any trade with the Mountains, it was the right thing to do to recognise the Tibetans’ continued denial of human rights,” Councillor Brown concluded.
On March 10, 1959, tens of thousands of Tibetans took to the streets of Lhasa, Tibet’s capital, to protest against China’s illegal invasion and occupation of their homeland, hence every year, March 10th is observed as Tibetan National Uprising Day to commemorate the 1959 uprising against the presence of the People’s Republic of China in Tibet.
