75 Tibetans and Supporters Protest at Chinese Consulate

Shining flashlights into the Chinese Consulate in Los Angeles and singing the Tibetan national anthem, about 75 Tibetans and supporters joined Friday evening to protest human rights violations in their homeland on the 30th anniversary of an abortive uprising against Communist rule.

Even though consular officials had left for the day, “the world people are watching,” said Geshe Gyeltsen, a Buddhist teacher who led prayers for world peace.

The Los Angeles protesters--monks, students, lawyers and business people--chanted “Let the press in, let the truth out.” They marched from the consulate on Shatto Street to Wilshire Boulevard, brandishing national flags outlawed in Tibet.

A spate of riots erupted in the Tibetan capital of Lhasa this week after monks staged a pro-independence demonstration Sunday. Martial law was declared by the Chinese government on Wednesday and foreigners were ordered to evacuate the area.

The uprising 30 years ago against Chinese rule forced Tibet’s spiritual and temporal leader, the Dalai Lama, to flee to India.

“China can no longer just drop the bamboo curtain,” said Jean Pellagatti, regional director of the U.S. Tibet Committee. The recent police shootings of demonstrators in Tibet and the declaration of martial law was “deplorable,” she added.

Pellagatti said that she had requested Friday afternoon to meet with Chinese consular officials but was refused. Guo Chongli, a spokesman for the consulate, said before the protest march that the Chinese would not meet with the demonstrators because “if they’re for the independence of Tibet, that’s out of the question. Tibetan affairs are entirely the internal affairs of China.”

Nawang Lhautara, who fled Tibet in 1959 as a 9-year-old, vowed during the march that “we’ll be a thorn in their side until they recognize that conquering and subjugating people is wrong.”