CHICAGO, ILL. – On the opening day of the 2008 Beijing Olympics, August 8, at least 500 Tibetans and their supporters from the Midwest will stage a massive protest in front of China’s Consulate in Chicago at 12pm.
This demonstration is part of a worldwide effort on August 8 to express deep displeasure with China’s cruel treatment of Tibetans, its brutal illegal occupation of Tibet, and its unwillingness to resolve the Tibet-China conflict.
The protesters in the Midwest will be joined at the Water Tower at 10:30am by the 15 core participants involved in the 180-mile, 2008 “March for Tibet’s Independence” that began in Madison on July 25 and ends at the Consulate on August 8. Included among these walkers are Jigme Norbu (son of Taktser Rinpoche and nephew of His Holiness The Dalai Lama), the Venerable Palden Gyatso, a 77-year old Monk who spent 33 years in a Chinese prison, and Wangchuk Dorje (Former North American Parliament Member-Tibetan Government In-Exile). For details about this walk, visit www.rangzen.org.
Tibetans and their supporters from Illinois, Indiana, Wisconsin, Minnesota, Kentucky, Washington, Vermont, Massachusetts, New York, Michigan, and India will participate.
Members of the Illinois Chapter of the Formosan Association for Public Affairs will also participate.
Jigme Norbu stated, “We have not achieved my father’s lifelong dream of restoring Tibet’s independence. I will continue to do whatever is necessary to achieve his dream and to voice the desires of my 6 million brothers and sisters inside Tibet who only want independence and who continue to demonstrate this desire in spite of the brutal force they experience at the hands of China’s military and police.”
According to the Venerable Palden Gyatso, “Until we achieve an acceptable solution on the Tibet-China issue, we will keep fighting.”
Sangay Taythi (Regional Tibetan Youth Congress-Minnesota) stated, “As a Tibetan youth in exile, I feel that it is our responsibility to keep the Tibetan movement alive through non-violent ways and rise up to regain the very place our parents and grandparents were forced out of.”
The International Tibet Independence Movement, Tibetan Alliance of Chicago, Tibetan American Foundation of Minnesota, Wisconsin Tibetan Association, Regional Tibetan Youth Congress-Minnesota, Minnesota Tibetan Women’s Association, Midwest Students for a Free Tibet, Chicago Students for a Free Tibet, and Indiana University-Students for a Free Tibet are coordinating this event.
Contact: Professor Larry Gerstein (rangzen@aol.com; 317-506-2249)
