China’s Long Oppressive Arm

The Chinese government’s relentless efforts to silence Tibetans and legitimize its control over Tibet are clearly not limited to Tibet and China. The Chinese government’s long, flexed arm, extents to India, Nepal, and even Greece. Below are a few images of members of Students for a Free Tibet and the Tibetan Youth Association of Europe being taken away after they were violently arrested for unfurling banners and Tibetan flags alongnthe road as the torch made its way through Olympia. One of the banners, hung from a balcony along the torch route, read “Light the Passion, Share the Dream: Free Tibet 2008.” “Light the Passion, Share the Dream” is the official Beijing 2008 Torch Relay slogan.

This is Pema with fake blood on her shirt after she stage a “die in” on the road where the Torch passed

A day earlier, Tenzin Dorjee, SFT’s Deputy Director, was stopped at Athens International Airport and detained, photographed and questioned for almost two hours. After being released he was immediately followed by undercover police who waited outside his hotel all night and followed him on motorbikes all the way to Olympia the next day. He was arrested today in the town’s main square after holding a press conference at IOC President Jacques Rogge’s hotel demanding that Tibet be removed from China’s Torch Relay route.

There is no doubt that its influence over democratic, free societies won’t end in Greece; it will pressure other governments to silence peaceful protesters who expose the truth behind China’s Olympics propaganda campaign. The Chinese government’s long arm has already extended to San Francisco, where Tibetans are being told they cannot protest along the Torch Relay route. Attempts to silence Tibetans and their supporters will continue in London, Paris and everywhere else China’s stained Olympic Torch goes. But the cost for Tibetans inside Tibet is much higher. If the IOC allows the Torch to go through Tibet, China will undoubtedly flex their muscles more than ever before, escalating its repression against Tibetans to ensure the smooth running of the torch through Tibet and to the top of Mount Everest.

 

 



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