(TibetanReview.net, Aug27’20) – Billboards have been set up in New York’s Times Square and London on Aug 24 to highlight human rights abuses in Chinese ruled Tibet by the London-based Tibet campaign group Free Tibet. The group said Aug 26 that the billboards will remain in place where they will be seen by millions of people till Sep 6.
The billboard on the Times Square is on 42nd street between 7th and 8th Avenue. It shows a Tibetan monk being taken away by Chinese security forces. A text accompanying it highlights how, in this US election year, Tibetans in Tibet, living under Chinese occupation rule, are not only unable to vote, but also cannot protest, or even leave Tibet.
The billboard in London is placed along the Kingston A3 Bypass and shows a person draped in the Tibetan flag behind bars. A text accompanying it says Tibet has been in lockdown since the Chinese invasion of the country in 1950.
The group said the billboards were aimed at increasing public awareness of human rights abuses happening in Tibet and asks audiences to “act now” to change the situation.
The campaign has been launched about a month before the 70th anniversary of the beginning of China’s invasion of Tibet on Oct 6. It is also meant to bring focus on the situation in Tibet at a time when China is under increased scrutiny for its abuses against the Uighur people and crackdowns in Hong Kong, the group said.
“Beijing’s human rights record in Tibet is inexcusable and the west has been too silent for too long. This campaign breaks the silence and brings the Tibet issue back into the public domain where it belongs. We ask the public in New York’s Times Square, London and around the world to act now,” said Free Tibet’s campaigns and advocacy manager, John Jones.
