MEDIA RELEASE
Issued 28th March 2008
Global Action Day For Tibet - 31st March 2008
Worldwide protest planned for Olympic Torch arrival in Beijing 31st March 2008

TIBETANS AND SUPPORTERS DEMAND “NO TORCH IN TIBET”

Protests, Peace March, Vigils and prayer ceremonies for Tibet will take place around the world on 31 March, when the Olympic Torch will arrive in Beijing, to highlight the suffering of the Tibetan people during China's current crackdown. Tibetans in exile and Tibet supporters are calling for all Tibetan areas to be withdrawn from the Torch Relay, stating that celebrating China’s Olympic Torch and its so-called “Journey of Harmony” in Tibet whilst the Tibetan people have been crushed by China's military forces is an abomination that must be stopped.

Tibetans in exile and Tibet supporters in New Zealand will participate in the Global Day of Action for Tibet as follows:

Monday: 31 March 2008
Auckland: Peace March down Queen Street from Aotea Square to Queen Elizabeth Square starting at 12.30 pm

Wellington: Protest outside Chinese Embassy in Glenmore St from 7.30 am to 8.30 am

12.30pm - 1.30pm : Creative parade to highlight the human rights abuses in Tibet as the Olympic torch arrives in Beijing. Parade starts at 12.30pm at Bucket Fountain Cuba Street and finishes at Midland Park.

Dunedin: Protest starts at the University Union on the lawn from 12:30 - 1:30, and then again at 5:30,in the Octagon (the other end of town).
For both protests the Tibetans in the community are going to be handcuffed/chained and blindfolded.

More than one hundred and fifty Tibet support organizations called on the International Olympic Committee President in a letter two weeks ago to cancel the planned visits of the Olympic torch to all Tibetan areas. The organizations, part of the International Tibet Support Network (see below) have also sent letters to the Torch Relay sponsors – Coca Cola, Lenovo, and Samsung – calling on them to withdraw their sponsorship unless Tibet is dropped from the route, and will now be appealing to National Olympic Committees to support their demands.

Note:

Friends of Tibet (NZ) and Students for a Free Tibet are part of the International Tibet Support Network, a global coalition of Tibet related non-governmental organizations, which works to maximise the effectiveness of the worldwide Tibet movement.

ITSN Member organizations hold varied positions on Tibet's future political status, but all regard Tibet as an occupied country and are dedicated to ending human rights violations in Tibet, and to working actively to restore the Tibetan people's right under international law to determine their own political, economic, social, religious, and cultural status.

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