(TibetanReview.net, Mar12, 2015) – Tibetans in Nepal’s capital Kathmandu commemorated the 56th anniversary of their National Uprising Day against Chinese occupation of their homeland by organizing prayers. Activists sang songs and made offerings to a portrait of the Dalai Lama as part of their peaceful commemorations, reported AFP Mar 10. That was because Nepal not only banned public commemorations but was also strictly enforcing it in an anxiety not to displease China.
“I have protested several times before, (I have) even been arrested once, but this year we are only holding prayers,” the report quoted a Tibetan housewife as saying. “How can we protest? They won’t let us,” she has added, as dozens of policemen patrolled outside.
“Every time Uprising Day comes, security is tighter. It is not good because monks get distracted by the police on that day,” a commentary posted on the turkishweekly.net website Mar 10 quoted a book vendor at Boudha as saying.
“They are monitoring Tibetans very strictly and they are not allowed to take to the street,” it quoted another Boudha Tibetan resident as saying. As in the past few years, festivities will be limited to monasteries, where monks will celebrate behind closed doors, he has added.
Still, China’s official Xinhua news agency falsely claimed Mar 10 that “flag-waving followers of the political exile (a reference to the Dalai Lama, Tibet’s exiled spiritual leader) protested in India and Nepal, urging China to end its ‘colonization’ in the holy land.”