Several pro-Tibet non-governmental organizations announced yesterday they will hold a Tibetan Freedom Torch Relay on Taiwan’s tallest mountain, Yushan (玉山), on Sunday, as part of a worldwide campaign to demonstrate the hope of the Tibetan people for freedom, justice and dignity.
“The Tibetan Freedom Torch highlights the Tibetan people’s non-violent, peaceful struggle against more than 50 years of Chinese suppression and oppression in Tibet,” Rinzin Tsering, chairman of the Taiwan Tibetan Welfare Association, told a news conference.
Tsering said the torch relay will also highlight the current crisis in Tibet, at a time when China has imposed a virtual lock down on the entire region, preventing foreign journalists from entering other than on government-guided tours.
However, news still continues to trickle out of Tibet, Tsering said.
“Almost on a daily basis, we hear harrowing new accounts of the brutal crackdown on new protests, house-to-house searches, mass imprisonment, torture inside prisons and even executions,” he said.
Hundreds of people have died in a series of protests by Tibetans that have taken place across Tibet since March 10, Tsering said.
The Tibetan government in exile has confirmed last month that over 200 Tibetans have died, more than 1,000 have been injured and at least 6,000 are still detained, he said.
Initiated by the International Tibet Support Network, the Tibetan Freedom Torch relay began its worldwide journey in Olympia, Greece on March 10, commemorating the 49th anniversary of the Tibetan Uprising against Chinese rule in 1959.
The Tibetan Freedom Torch has already traveled to more than 30 major cities in Europe, the US and Asia. It will be carried to more than 20 countries worldwide before finally reaching Tibet on the eve of the Beijing Olympic Games on Aug. 7.
Dhundup Gyalpo, a Tibetan student in Taiwan, said the torch relay also represents Tibetan opposition to Beijing’s exploitation of the 2008 Olympic Games for political propaganda.
The Taiwan leg of the Tibetan Freedom Torch relay will culminate at dawn on Sunday when the torch will be lit atop Yushan. The mountain is located on a similar latitude as the holy mountain of Tibetans, Mount Kailash, in the Himalayas.
Sunday is a particularly auspicious day for Tibetans as it is the birthday of the Dalai Lama.
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