“I have been working for the Tibetan cause and will continue to be a part of this noble pursuit”, said Mr. Bruno Portigliatti, President of European Buddhist Union. He was amongst the several visitors who paid visit at the site of Hunger strike to express their support and solidarity to the three brave Tibetans who from the past ten days have been braving all the anomalies of a biting cold weather and the cold response from the IOC. Amongst the long list of supporters includes members of ISCOS, a Trade Unions Institute for Development and Co-operation striving to promote solidarity among the workers in Italy and that of other developing countries so to achieve peace and respect for human rights.
The National Radio and Television Broadcasting from Netherlands, which has been following the whole event covered the TYC led indefinite hunger strike for a special report. Various print and electronic Media who have been flooding the site have also been emotionally touched by the sacrifices and bravery of these three activists, making their contribution in the early realisation of their demands.
La Stampa, a national reality programme which interviewed the hunger strikers on 19th February has taken the hunger strike seriously. The programme crew met with the high level representatives of the Chinese government and raised the Tibetan issue, specifically the demands of the hunger strikers. But the Chinese officials, as is expected, completely refused to acknowledge the prevalence of any human rights abuse and religion repression in Tibet. La Stampa later revisited the hunger strikers and took another round of extensive interview with the hunger strikers and covered their response to the fallacious claims made by the Chinese officials. La Stampa will be following on with their endeavour by again meeting with the Chinese representative and the Olympic games contingent from China at Turin.
The physical appearance of the hunger strikers show visible signs of decline with their body parts refusing to respond but their spirit and determination is strong as ever as they continue to greet visitors like the children from Bimpi Club primary school. While in the tent the hunger strikers continue sacrificing their today for a better tomorrow for Tibet. The members of Tibetan community in Italy staged protest at various Olympic venues. Two Tibetan women exposed a huge banner which read, “China Play Games with Human Rights” in the oval stadium during the individual high velocity skating centre yesterday. The security finally managed to force them out of the stadium but not before the protestors had gained the attention of most of the spectators and of the huge screen on which the protestors were shown. While writing this report the messages from across the globe keep on pooling, the most recent being from Mr. Vijay Kranti and International Campaign for Tibet.
Contact Details:
Ms. Pema Yangchen, Organisational Secretary, TYC and Coordinator+393332542727
Mr. Tamding Chomphel, Vice President, Tibetan Community, Italy +393332542727
Mr. Lobsang Yeshi, Acting President, Tibetan Youth Congress, Dharamshala, India +91-1892-221554/9816106224 Email: tyc@vsnl.com
Established in 1970, Tibetan Youth Congress (TYC) is the largest non-governmental organization within the Tibetan community fighting for the complete independence of Tibet, having over 30,000 active members in 80 Regional chapters across the globe.
