Marchers urge China to ease up on Tibet
An international relay to raise awareness of Tibetan human rights issues reached San Francisco on Saturday, with several hundred protesters marching from United Nations Plaza to the Chinese consulate.
The demonstration included the final North American appearance of an electric torch dubbed the Flame of Truth. The marchers, most of them of Tibetan descent, called on the United Nations and the United States to pressure China to improve conditions within the mountainous region.
“This torch is to dispel the darkness surrounding Tibet,” said Tashi Namgyal, the North American representative to the Tibetan parliament in exile. “It also symbolizes that Tibet is burning now.”
Fatal self-immolations
Namgyal’s statement wasn’t simply a figure of speech: At least 69 Tibetans have set themselves on fire as an act of protest, with at least 56 of the self-immolations proving fatal. Tibetans accuse China’s Communist leadership of repressive policies that include religious restrictions on Buddhists.
The U.N. Plaza rally kicked off around 11 a.m. Some people in the gathering waved the national flag while others held signs proclaiming “Stop the genocide in Tibet” and “Tibetans inside Tibet, we are with you.” In addition to Tibetan speakers and performers, there were appearances by such local figures as Richmond Mayor Gayle McLaughlin.
“I’m torn apart that the repression is so bad that these young people are driven to take their own lives and make such a powerful statement,” said McLaughlin.
Organizers also read a statement from Rep. Nancy Pelosi, a longtime critic of the Chinese government’s human rights record, declaring: “The people of Tibet have legitimate grievances after decades of harsh rule.”
At 12:30 p.m., about 350 marchers left U.N. Plaza behind a woman carrying the torch, who was flanked by a pair of monks. The police-escorted march stretched for two blocks along Van Ness Avenue and was peaceful, though the spirited chanting did not flag.
The march turned onto Geary Boulevard and stopped outside the Chinese consulate at Laguna Street. Protesters sang the Tibetan national anthem, chanted a prayer and listened to speakers.
“This torch represents the hope of the Tibetan people and our supporters around the world,” said Yangchen Chagzoetsang of Students for a Free Tibet, one of the organizing groups of the international relay. “We can force China to recognize the basic human rights of Tibet.”
The consulate was locked and dark, with a few open windows but no other evidence of anyone inside. And for all the chanting — led mostly by students with bullhorns on a flag-lined flatbed truck — the only physical act of defiance was the placement of a “Save Tibet” sticker on each of the two plaques at the entrance to the consulate’s visa office.
Cyclists participate
Demonstrators left the consulate at 2:30 and marched east. The day’s events concluded at the Ferry Building’s Gandhi statue, where marchers were joined by more than 50 bicyclists who had split off from the rally at U.N. Plaza to conduct a two-wheeled Tibetan rights demonstration of their own.
The next action in the Flame of Truth campaign will come on Dec. 10, when petitions will be presented at the United Nations calling on that organization to send an independent fact-finding delegation to Tibet.