Tibetans raise voice in Chennai

Friday, September 09, 2011

Deccan Chronicle

Chennai, India-- They may look like carefree, fashionable college students at first glance, but inside every Tibetan, there is a freedom fighter, longing to return to a free motherland.

Tibetan students from Chennai hold up posters of the freedom fighter monk who set himself on fire, during their protest on Anna Salai on 8 September 2011.(Deccan Chronicle)

On Thursday morning, around 200 young Tibetan students boycotted their classes and went on a hunger strike protesting the human rights violations committed by the Chinese armed forces in Tibet.

Triggered by the public suicide of a young freedom fighter monk in Tibet last month, and the tension that followed, the day-long hunger protest was led by a group of 11 monks from the Gaden Jangste monastery near Mysore.

“Last month, 29-year-old Tsewang Norbu immolated himself in order to get the world to pay attention to Tibet’s freedom struggle. Since then, Chinese soldiers have surrounded the Nyitso monastery in Tibet, cutting off food supply to the monks living inside. Many monks from the monastery have been arrested as they were suspected of aiding the suicide,” explained Mr Rinchen Namgyal, president of the Tibetans Students Association of Madras.

“The monks from Mundgod are travelling across the country to hold protests, hoping that the Indian government will intervene. We also demand that journalists from across the world be allowed to travel freely to Tibet, so they can tell the world about China’s oppression of Tibetan citizens,” added Mr Rinchen, a PG student at Madras University.

The protestors also pushed for the release of the Panchen Lama, who has been missing since 1995. It is believed that the Lama, along with his parents, have been detained by the Chinese government.

Shouting slogans, the students marched from Anna Salai to Choolaimedu after the fast, distributing pamphlets to drum up support for their cause.