Tibetans come together for solidarity march

GANGTOK, 23 Nov: The Tibetan Youth Club [TYC] and the Tibetan community living in and around Gangtok began their peace march from Chandmari, here in Gangtok, to Salugara in Siliguri, West Bengal this morning after offering prayers at a monastery here.
The five-day march will end on 27 November at Salugara.
Around 150 people from the Tibetan community are participating in the peace march which has been organized to protest against the atrocities being suffered by the Tibetans in Tibet.
The rally will be joined by other Tibetans from Ravangla, Kalimpong, Darjeeling, Mirik and Kuresong. While the people from Ravangla will join them today, others will join them during their march to Salugara.

Meanwhile, members of the Tibetan community of Ravangla in South Sikkim also marched off today to join the peace march to Salugara.
President, TYC-Ravangla, Tenzing Bhutia, informed that the march has been organized by the TYC and Tibetan Women’s Association of Ravangla. He explained that the rally was a solidarity march to protest the atrocities being carried out by the Chinese government against Tibetans living in Tibet.
To date, 78 Tibetans are confirmed to have self-immolated inside Tibet since 27 February 2009, of whom 64 are reported to have died following their protest. “There are a number of ways to interpret this ultimate offering of one’s life. One interpretation is that it is an act of utmost hopelessness and the Tibetan Youth Congress completely rejects this suggestion”, he added.
He further said that the Chinese government can no longer view these actions in Tibet as merely uncomfortable and embarrassing incidents but instead as very real and significant threats.
“They should understand the potential for further actions and the magnitude of what they represent. The Chinese government and the world at large should not misinterpret these acts as ethnic conflicts or simply a struggle for religious freedom, so long as China continues to occupy Tibet and oppress the Tibetan people, they will continue to resist the fundamental denial of their freedom”, he further added.
The rally started from the monastery at the Tibetan settlement of Ravangla where they offered prayers and then marched to Ravangla bazaar. They will be covering 25 kilometers per day.