Beijing Wide Open

The Indian police came to the March to Tibet’s first night’s resting place at Sarah Institute of Higher Tibetan Studies yesterday with 100 copies of a restraining order from the central government written in the name of each of the Core Marchers.

The order says that the March may “culminate into endangering public tranquility and breach of public peace and so all Marchers are “not to leave the territorial jurisdiction of Kangra District till further order.”

The District police chief Atul Phuljile told the AFP news agency. “We have issued a restraining order to the marchers not to leave the Kangra district and if they violate the order then all necessary actions will be taken.”

When the police came onto the grounds last night they were stopping Marchers and asking for their RCs (Foreign Registration Certificates). And this is the point. Tibetans live in India as “Foreigners.” But where most other Foreigners in India can go home, Tibetans cannot. They have to renew their RCs every year and for many, despite the kindness of India and Indians on so many levels, life is a constant struggle. The RC serves as a daily reminder that they are not home and, therefore, not free, no matter how comfortable their surroundings may be.

As of this moment, the Marchers are assembling to leave the grounds at Sarah. They are as determined to march as Tibetans everywhere are to get our country back.

And if yesterday’s March 10th is any indication of the resolve of a new generation of Tibetans, China has a lot to worry about.

March 10th saw so many incredible actions taken by Tibetans around the globe.

In Tibet, there are reports of courageous protests including hundreds of monks from Drepung Monastery taking action and trying to march into Lhasa as well as a protest in the Bharkhor itself by 8 monks and 2 laypeople.

In Nepal over 1000 Tibetans protested and hundreds were beaten and arrested when they tried to head for the Chinese embassy.

In Toronto, 2 Tibetan high school boys were arrested by the RCMP after climbing onto the Chinese consulate and replacing the Chinese flag with the Tibetan flag.

And in Olympia, Greece, a group of young Tibetans, including SFT’s own Deputy Director, Tenzin Dorjee, lit the Tibetan Freedom Torch, preempting China’s official torch lighting in the same place later this month. The Tibetan Freedom Torch will travel to 50 cities around the world to draw attention to China’s occupation of Tibet in the lead up to the Beijing Olympics.