Activists of Students for Free Tibet (SFT) staged a protest in Dharmshala on Thursday against the Beijing Winter Olympics Games being held in China. During the protest, activists staged a drama to protest and convey their message to the people. During the protest, the SFT activists held placards and raised slogans against the Chinese government. They termed the Beijing Winter Olympics 2022 as “Genocide 2022.”
The student activists claim that the Chinese government is conducting mega sports events amid all the atrocities and other grave human rights violations that are openly going on in China.
“We are protesting the opening of the Beijing Winter Olympics in 2022. So, we are here raising our voices for the one million Uyghurs and language and human rights advocates who are jailed in Tibet and the independence seekers in Hong Kong,” said Tenzin Lekhden, campaign coordinator for SFT.
Himachal Pradesh | Students for Tibet (SFT) protest against Beijing Winter Olympics
I’m representing all the political prisoners not only in Tibet but in all the occupied countries by China. we are protesting the opening of the Beijing Winter Olympics 2022: Tenzin Passang, SFT pic.twitter.com/eZFAOgNj8Q — ANI (@ANI) February 4, 2022
Dharmshala: Activists of SFT protest against Beijing Winter Olympics 2022
“The players here are blindfolded and there is a mask, so this symbolises a deaf and blind eye to the atrocities committed by the Chinese Communist Party that are happening right now in Tibet and elsewhere in China. We also have a representation of political prisoners here and a genocide medal,” added Tenzin Lekhden.
An SFT member highlighted that awarding the 2008 summer Olympics Games to Beijing did not prove to be an effective measure as the human rights violation issue continues to be a matter of grave concern in China. SFT said that in Xi Jinping’s government, Chinese officials have been committing various criminal activities and mass abuse against Tibetans, Uyghurs, and other ethnic groups of religious believers from all independent faith groups.
Tenzin Passang, programme coordinator of SFT, stated that “Today in this action I am representing all the political prisoners not only in Tibet but in all the occupied countries by China, like the Uyghurs, Taiwan, Southern Mongolia, and all.”
“We are against the Beijing Winter Olympics because the Olympics are trying to glorify what China is actually not. The brutality and suppression are happening inside Tibet and other occupied countries,” said the activist.
“We hope that the international community will hear us and support us and stand against China,” he added. Meanwhile, countries including Canada, Australia, the United Kingdom, the United States, and India have staged a diplomatic boycott of the 2022 Winter Olympics over China’s human rights record.
Image: ANI/ AP
With Inputs from ANI
