‘Free Tibet’: Protests in Dharamshala Mark 60 Years of Uprising
March 10 was the 60th anniversary of the Tibet uprising, which forced the Dalai Lama into exile.
Video Editor: Purnendu Pritam
Thousands of Tibetans gathered in Himachal Pradesh’s Dharamshala on Sunday, 10 March, to commemorate 60 years of the Tibetan uprising against Chinese rule that drove the Dalai Lama into exile.
Supporters of the spiritual leader gathered in Dalai Lama’s temple in mountainous Dharamshala, where the government-in-exile was established after fleeing the deadly Chinese crackdown in Tibet in 1959.
‘Free Tibet’
Protestors, some of whom had painted their faces with “Free Tibet”, waved the colourful ‘snow lion’ flag, which China has outlawed as a symbol of separatism. They shouted slogans such as "Leave Tibet" and "What we want? We want freedom.”
"Tibet belongs to Tibetans," Prime Minister-in-Exile Lobsang Sangay said in a fiery speech to the gathering.
"Sixty years of the occupation of Tibet and the repression of Tibetans is too long," he was quoted as saying by The Economic Times.
60th Anniversary of Tibetan Uprising
Performers dressed in traditional attire danced and recited Tibetan songs at the Dalai Lama Temple in Dharamsala.
Tibetan activists also took out a march in Delhi. They put up posters and hoisted the Tibetan flag hoisted in the national capital to mark the 60th anniversary of the uprising
Nearly five decades after the abortive uprising, in 2008, anger exploded in a series of protests in and around Tibetan capital Lhasa, which culminated in attacks on Chinese individuals and businesses.
(With inputs from The Economic Times, AP)
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