A personal report by Tsewang Norbu
The two political Tibet advocacy groups in the German capital International Campaign for Tibet Deutschland (ICT-D) and the Tibet Initiative Deutschland (TID) have jointly organised an hours vigil on Thursday, the 10th November in front of the Brandenburger Gate against the visit of Chinese President Hu Jintao.
Among others were two big banners: Hu Jintao, verhandele mit dem Dalai Lama! (Hu Jintao, Negotiate with the Dalai Lama!) by the ICT-D) and Hu Jintao: von Deutschland hofiert! Verantwortlicher für Kriegsrecht und Völkermord in Tibet (Hu Jintao, flattered by Germany, is responsible for Martial Law and Genocide in Tibet) by the TID.
Some thirty Tibetans and Tibet friends wore black T-Shirts with names, age and year of death of Tibetans in white letters and big fat cross who died or were executed during the term of Hu Jintao in the socalled TAR and many of them laid down on the ground. This view was especially good for the photo journalists.
Other members distributed the separate press release. The ICT-D called on the designated Chancellor, Angela Merkel, to dwell pressure on President Hu to solve the Tibet-Problem whereas the TID dealt upon the tragic record of Hus term as Party Chairman in the socalled TAR and said that “a person with such blood stains on his hand” can not be welcomed in Germany.
Some 30 minutes after the begin of the silent vigil, there were some sporadic shouts like Free Tibet or Chinese go Home as a group of some 50 young Chinese came with Chinese flags. As in the past, this is obviously a group organised by the Chinese Embassy to stage pro Chinese demonstration, mainly aimed at domestic consumption in China for state controlled media. The police asked these Chinese to move away from the spot.
Almost at the same time another demonstration in the form of street parade was organised by Falun Gong from the Check-Point Charly to the Chinese Embassy which was joined by some 400 persons.
On the eve of Hus visit to Germany the media and even politics (German Presidents remark in a newspaper interview asking the business world to refrain from signing agreement in countries with grave human rights violations without naming China by name) have made some very critical utterances on developments in China and Tibet. This is some what unusual.
This observation in Germany is some what in consistent with the utterance made by British PM Blair about allowing peaceful demonstrations. Although it is a bit too early to say but my first conclusion is that Hu Jintao is after Li Peng the most unpopular Chinese leader visiting the west. This has definitely to do with his tenure as Party boss in the socalled TAR.
For more visit: www.tibet-initiative.de or www.savetibet.de
