Published by: World Tibet Network News, Monday, March 11, 1996

SYDNEY, March 10 AAP - Australians, accusing China of committing atrocities in Tibet, will stage a protest march down Pitt Street, Sydney, this afternoon.

The march will coincide with Tibetan National Day. Organisers expect about 150 people to march from the Sydney Town Hall to Circular Quay where street theatre protests will continue.

Protest spokeswoman Tiffany Swinton said there were about only 60 Tibetans living in Sydney bu there was great concern about "human rights abuses and environmental eco-cide" in Tibet among Australians.

"The genocide in Tibet receives little publicity in Australia because many Australians do not even know where the country is and because the Dalai Lama does not believe in violence - my belief is that is why it is not a big issue here," Ms Swinton said.

She said the United Nations had recognised Tibet as an occupied country, as far back as the late 1950s.

Groups including the Australia Tibet Council, the Australian Tibetan Friendship Group and the Australian Tibetan Society, will be represented in today's march.

Speakers today at Customs Square before the march begins are to be Australian Democrats Senator Vicki Bourne, Justice John Dowd of the Supreme Court, and Chris Doran from the Wilderness Society.