(TibetanReview.net, Jan11’22) – China may have got the choice of buildings and the location for its new embassy in London. But it may not only not like but also hate its address. And that is because the Tower Hamlets Council has voted to consider naming nearby roads and buildings as “Tiananmen Square”, “Uyghur Court”, “Hong Kong Road” and “Tibet Hill”, reported cityam.com Jan 10.
The Council’s vote was reported to have come in response to China’s application to build a new embassy in its jurisdiction.
Reports have been cited as saying the naming move was meant to assert “support for the freedom and diversity of our borough”.
One of the driving forces behind the campaign was stated to be Rahima Mahmut, an Uyghur singer who has lived in the area for the past over two decades after leaving her home in Xinjiang.
Referring to the three buildings purchased by the Chinese government to house its embassy, Mahmut has told the MyLondon website, “We are asking Tower Hamlets Council to dedicate three names to three different communities that are being affected by Chinese government oppression – Tibet Hill, Uyghur Court and Hong Kong Square.”
It had taken Mahmut three years to get a student passport from China to go to London and was joined by her son and husband two years later, to never go back, the report said.
