Tibetans protest ahead of G20 summit in Australia
DHARAMSALA, Nov 14: A day ahead of the 9th G20 summit in Brisbane, Australia, where leaders across the world are set to discuss global economy, a group of Tibetans released an airborne banner using two black balloons reading, “China fails human rights, G-20 unite for Tibet”.
The protesters who hung the banner from the cliffs on the Brisbane River today were from the Australian Tibet Council (ATC) and Students for a Free Tibet (SFT).
Protest organiser and ATC’s spokesperson, Kyinzom Dhonghue said China remained “an authoritarian state that continues to oppress the Tibetans”.
“We’re encouraging like-minded governments to stand by their common democratic values and unite for Tibet and stand up to China,” she said.
The Tibetan protesters also plan to hold protests on the day the summit begins to draw attention of the world leaders to the critical situation in Tibet and press China to resolve the issue.
China’s repressive rule in Tibet has resulted in more than 130 Tibetans resorting to self-immolations to challenge Beijing’s hard line rule on the Tibetan plateau, often referred to as ‘the roof of the world’. Almost all the self-immolators had also called for the return of the Tibetan spiritual leader, His Holiness the Dalai Lama from exile in India where he has lived since he fled Tibet in 1959 after a failed uprising.
Though Australian Prime Minister, Tony Abbot intends to keep the focus of the summit on ‘growth and jobs’, various other issues, including Russian incursion in eastern Ukraine and climate change are expected to loom large during the summit scheduled from Nov 15-16.
