(TibetanReview.net, Mar27’19) – Tibetans and others estimated to range from hundreds to more than a thousand have greeted visiting Chinese President Xi Jinping with a protest rally in the French capital Paris on Mar 24 afternoon, marching with Tibetan flags and carrying placards, calling for freedom in Tibet and the resumption of dialogue with the Dalai Lama.
The chief guest for the event was stated to be French Senator Jacqueline Eustache-Brinio who has expressed her biggest hope for the moment to be to see a French parliamentary fact-finding delegation visiting Tibet.
After gathering at the esplanade of Human Rights of the Trocadéro, the rally meandered through the city to concluded at Champ de Mars Peace Wall on the opposite side of the Eiffel Tower where the event conclude at 07:00 pm.
Also taking part in the protest rally – which was jointly organized by the Tibetan Community of France, Students for a Free Tibet, Tibetan Youth Congress, Regional Dokham Chushi Gangdruk, U-Tsang Welfare Association and Domey Welfare Association – were stated to be members from the Uyghur Association of France, a Vietnamese association, and many others.
Xi was on the last leg of his three-nation tour of Europe which also included Monaco and Italy, where an anticipated meeting with the Pope did not materialize.
The number of Tibetan living in France is said to have risen to around 6,000 due to a steady number of asylum applicants over the past one decade or so.
