Pro-Tibet protester returns home after arrest in Beijing

Brett Bundale, Montreal Gazette

Saturday, August 16, 2008

MONTREAL - The 24-year-old Montreal man arrested one week ago during a pro-Tibet demonstration at the Beijing Olympic Games returned home last night.

Chris Schwartz was welcomed back to Montreal by a group of Tibet supporters and members of the Tibetan community waving flags and holding flowers.

"I'm very grateful to be back," Schwartz said a few moments after he touched down. "The experience was incredibly humbling and I have this energy and momentum now to continue working for the Tibetan cause."

Schwartz was arrested in Tiananmen Square last Saturday along with three Americans and one German, all members of the New York-based Students for a Free Tibet.

The quintet put on a short street skit, which Schwartz described as a "die-in."  

"While the other protesters were wrapped in the (banned) Tibetan national flag with red paint poured on them to symbolize China's on-going brutality in Tibet, my role was to be the narrator and explain to people what the protest was all about."

Most passerby reacted with interest and curiosity, Schwartz said. "It's not everyday that there's a protest in Tiananmen Square. But one person in the crowd did throw an empty water bottle at us."

The five were immediately arrested, however, and deported to Hong Kong where Schwartz was delayed several days due to visa issues.

Schwartz grew up in Pointe Claire and currently lives with his parents in Verdun.  He is a part-time student at Concordia University and a salaried campaign organizer for the Concordia Student Union.

 At the airport to greet Schwartz was Montreal lawyer and activist, Maude Côté, arrested during the Beijing Games last Sunday when she tried to unfurl a banner that read, "Tibetans are dying for freedom."

"After Chris did his action on Tiananmen Square I did some interviews with the media and I was followed by more undercover security officers, so I decided the next day to do an action," Côté said.

"We were arrested right away and detained for about six hours before we were deported to Los Angeles," Côté said, adding that she arrived back in Montreal Monday night.

The goal of the protest was to  highlight the fact that China has been using the Games to legitimize its illegal occupation of Tibet, Côté said, adding that she has been a member of Students for a Free Tibet for the past 10 years.

"They're putting on this big show with glitter, music and colours. In the meantime, Tibetans are being put in jail, monks are being forced out of their monastery's  and reporters can't even go into Tibet because it's banned," Côté said.

Pointing to her Tibet flag she brought with her to greet Schwartz at the airport, Côté added, "Even just holding this flag in China would be a one-way ticket to jail."

bbundale@thegazette.canwest.com