VIENNA, March 20: Two hundred protesters staged a protest against China’s crackdown in Tibet outside the Chinese embassy in Vienna today and one demonstrator tore down the Chinese flag.
A Tibetan demonstrator, Tso Tashi Taoh, climbed onto the balcony of the embassy, ripped off the Chinese flag and waved a Tibetan one in its place for a few minutes before he was removed by embassy employees.
The Chinese embassy could not be reached for comment.
The protest, organised by the environmental Green party, also included exiled Tibetans in Austria and representatives of the Save Tibet organisation.
Demonstrators waved signs saying “Free Tibet”, “Human Rights for Tibet” and “Red China, leave Tibet.”
An Olympic flag carried the words “Beijing torch burns Tibet,” in reference to China’s decision to go ahead with plans to carry the torch through the Himalayan region on its way to the Beijing Olympic Games.
Anti-China protests led by Buddhist monks in the Tibetan capital of Lhasa escalated last week into riots that have spread to Chinese provinces with Tibetan-populations.
