Ahead of the 62nd anniversary of Tibetan Uprising Day, hundreds of people, including Tibetans, took to the streets in Taiwan to demand greater public advocacy against China’s illegal occupation and decades of atrocities in Tibet. Sunday’s demonstration was held to create awareness about the Chinese rule in Tibet among the general public around the world. The Tibetan Uprising Day is observed on March 10 every year to mark the 1959 armed rebellion against China in Tibet, which resulted in a violent crackdown of Tibetan people, forcing the Dalai Lama to take shelter in India.
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According to news agency ANI, protesters began their march from Zhongxiao Fuxing MRT Station in Taipei on Sunday, where they chanted slogans, such as “Free Tibet, China Out”, “Long Live Dalai Lama!”. Several mainstream politicians also took part in Sunday’s rally, including Member of Parliament Hung Sun-han of the ruling Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) and Taipei City Councilor Miao Po-ya. Organisers of the demonstration have reportedly planned another rally for March 10 to mark the Tibetan National Uprising Day at Freedom Square in Taipei.
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Tibetan National Uprising Day is observed annually by numerous advocacy groups fighting for the freedom of Tibet. The uprising day is also marked by the Tibetan government-in-exile, which presently operates out of India, and also by the 14th Dalai Lama, who lives in Dharamshala. Meanwhile, the Tibetan uprising day is being observed in Taiwan for the past 17 years, where rallies are organised each year to remind people of the violent Chinese crackdown in the Himalayas and the ongoing illegal occupation.
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How Communist China occupied Tibet?
After the Qing dynasty was toppled in the early 20th century, Tibet declared independence and restored Dalai Lama as ruler. The 13th Dalai Lama ruled Tibet until the 1950s, when the victor of the Chinese civil war, the People’s Republic of China (PRC), annexed Tibet after forcing a ‘Seventeen Point Agreement’ on the newly installed 14th Dalai Lama and other officials in Lhasa. China called the annexation a “peaceful liberation of Tibet”. Tibetan officials were forced to give in to the agreement in fear that China would launch a full-scale invasion if they refuse to sign the treaty.
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