(TibetanReview.net, Aug05’26) – Marking the completion of a month since independence activist Lobga Rangzen carried out his protest self-immolation in front of the UN Headquarters in New York City on Jul 2, around 2,000 Tibetans and supporters gathered to hold a vigil at New York’s Times Square in memory of him on Aug 1, addressed by longtime Tibet advocate and International Campaign for Tibet (ICT) Board Chair Richard Gere. Tibetan communities in towns and cities in numerous countries also held protest rallies and other events. Scores of Tibetans were held in India’s financial capital Mumbai from outside the Chinese Consulate General on Aug 3.
Gere urged the Tibetans to carry forward the legacy of Lobga Rangzen by embracing the message he asked the world never to forget: “ང་བོད་པ་ཡིན། I am Tibetan.” He also called on Tibetans to make His Holiness the Dalai Lama proud by taking action for Tibet; standing up for their identity; and continuing the Tibetan struggle with unity, courage and purpose.
The vigil, organized by a coalition of eight Tibetan organizations led by the Tibetan National Congress, brought together Lobga Rangzen’s family, prominent Tibetan leaders and activists, elected officials, and representatives of the Uyghur, Southern Mongolian, Hong Kong and Taiwanese communities in a powerful tribute to the life and sacrifice of the longtime Tibetan activist, said ICT Aug 4.
It said Gere, with ICT President Tencho Gyatso, urged the gathering to take meaningful action for Tibet, recording videos that call on members of Congress to support the Assuring the Future of Tibet Act (AFTA), bipartisan legislation that seeks to strengthen US support for the Tibetan people and the Central Tibetan Administration, and to demand the repeal of China’s so-called Ethnic Unity and Progress Law, using the hashtags #SupportAFTA and #RepealEthnicUnityLaw on social media.
The gathering was also address by Lobga Rangzen’s niece Sonam Choedon who described her uncle as a man who devoted every day of his life to Tibet’s freedom.
The report said that throughout the day, Tibetan youths performed full-body prostrations from the Brooklyn Bridge to Times Square, while Tibetan students staged a performative die-in representing the more than 170 Tibetans who have self-immolated in protest against China’s occupation of Tibet. Tibetan children from the DC Capital Area Tibetan Association also paid tribute by reading the names of the over 170 Tibetan activists who had self-immolated in protest against China’s rule of Tibet.
Following the vigil, hundreds of participants marched peacefully from Times Square to the United Nations Headquarters. Carrying lighted candles and Tibetan flags, and wearing white ceremonial scarves over their mouths, the marchers created a striking visual symbol of both the voices silenced inside Tibet and the silence of the international community in the face of China’s repression, the report said.
Various media reports have appeared about Tibetans holding protests in memory of the Tibetan independence activist’s protest self-immolation. Around 15 to 20 Tibetan refugees were detained by the Mumbai Police after they staged a protest outside the Chinese Consulate General at Nariman Point against China’s newly implemented “Ethnic Unity and Progress Promotion Law” on Aug 3, reported freepressjournal.in.
In both New York and Mumbai, a number of protesting Tibetans, both men and women, shaved their heads to mark the occasion.