By Tenzin Sangmo
New Delhi, July 28 – The Venice City Council on Tuesday unanimously approved a resolution called for by Michele Bortoluzzi to award the Dalai Lama with honorary citizenship before the Beijing Olympics if possible. To push the motion forward the Tibet Venice Committee has in the past few days launched a petition that collected 1,500 signatures from its citizens and submitted it to the Municipality.
According to the Committee, “This is a spontaneous aggregation and apathy of citizens and associations who intend to express solidarity with the Tibetan people in a tragic moment in its history. We launched a campaign to collect signatures to ask that the Dalai Lama be granted honorary citizenship, as a form of closeness with the struggle of Tibetans to defend human and civil rights”.
Mayor Massimo Cacciari will award the recognition in writing in a special sitting of the Municipal Council.
The Dalai Lama has also been granted honorary citizenship of Paris and the Polish City of Wroclaw earlier this year.
