BREAKING: Tibet Activists Unfurl Balloon Banner to Protest China’s Next President in LA

For Immediate Release
February 17th, 2012

***Photos are available here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/sfthq

Contact: Tenzin Wangmo, +1 (510) 682-9024
Ginger Cassidy, +1 (415) 640-7155

Tibet Activists Unfurl Massive Balloon Banner to Protest China’s Next President in Los Angeles

Los Angeles: Tibet activists have unfurled a massive 40 foot banner today reading “Xi Jinping: Tibet Will Be Free” outside the Marriott Hotel in Los Angeles where California Governor Brown and US officials met with China’s future president.

 The banner was suspended five stories in the air by two large helium balloons to ensure the message of Tibetan freedom is clearly visible during the 2-day visit by China’s future president. Protests are also planned this evening outside the Staple Center where Xi Jinping is planning to attend a Lakers Game.

“While Xi Jinping, China’s future president, entertains himself at the Lakers game, Tibetans are setting themselves on fire to protest China’s colonial oppression and to demand their freedom,” said Sontse of the Tibetan Association of Northern California. “China’s crackdown in Tibet is not a game, it is real, it is horrific, and must be vehemently opposed by our legislators.”

Vice President Xi Jinping’s visit to LA comes amid reports that yet another Tibetan self-immolated at approximately 6:00am local time today in Sengge Township, Themchen County, Tsonub Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture, in Eastern Tibet. Twenty-five Tibetans are now reported to have set fire to themselves in Tibet since 2009, 12 since January 2012, in an unprecedented show of defiance to Chinese rule. In an effort to stop news of the unrest reaching the world after security forces opened fire on unarmed protesters calling for Tibetan freedom and the return of the Dalai Lama, the Chinese government has sealed Tibet off to foreigners and journalists.

“Xi Jinping is here representing a regime that is right now engaged in a vicious assault on the Tibetan people while directly supporting the Syrian dictatorship in massacring its own people,” said Tenzin Tselha, member of the Students for a Free Tibet.

The chilling images and reports coming out of Tibet of Chinese police viciously beating unarmed Tibetans have moved the world to action. Senator Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) introduced a Senate resolution expressing deep concern about the current situation in Tibet and steadfast support for the Tibetan people.

“Senator Feinstein has done the right thing by standing up for Tibet and we call on all our elected officials to stand for the values Californians care about most – freedom, democracy and basic human rights – and urge Xi Jinping to stop his government’s bloody crackdown in Tibet.” said Tashi Namgyal, President of the Tibetan Youth Congress. “Beijing’s ultra violent rule in Tibet and abuses against Chinese people show that China remains a repressive and authoritarian state.”

Protests jointly organized by Tibetan Association of Southern California and San Francisco Team Tibet (San Francisco Regional Tibetan Youth Congress, Tibetan Association of Northern California, Committee of 100 for Tibet, Bay Area Friends of Tibet and Students for a Free Tibet.)

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