(TibetanReview.net, Mar15, 2014) – Police in India’s capital New Delhi detained 20 young women after they staged a protest outside the Chinese embassy on Mar 12, the 55th anniversary of the Tibetan women’s uprising day against Chinese rule in their homeland. All, including an Indian supporter, were released later in the day.
The Tibetan women were college-going students residing at the Tibetan Youth Hostel in northwest Delhi’s Rohini area and members of the Tibetan Youth Congress. They painted their faces with the Tibetan national flag and carried placards as they shouted slogans, demanding freedom in their occupied homeland and international intervention on the tragic situation there.
The protest took place despite the fact that the city police kept a close watch on the hostel gate. According to Ngawang, Media and Public Relations Coordinator of the Rohini Regional Tibetan Youth Congress, the 20 participants symbolized the 20 Tibetan women among the total of 127 who had staged self-immolation protests against Chinese rule in Tibet over the last five years.
In Dharamsala, the Tibetan Women’s association, the second largest Tibetan NGO, commemorated the occasion at the Tsuglakhang, the main Buddhist temple in town, and launched an online petition urging world leaders to press China to resume dialogue with representatives of the Dalai Lama. It was followed by a protest rally to the downtown area with the participation of large numbers of nuns and laywomen, including schoolchildren