Published by: World Tibet Network News, Wednesday, Mar 13, 1996

Submitted by: CTC Ottawa

OTTAWA, 12 Mar 96, (CTC) -- March 10th event began at noon on Parliament Hill on Sunday with a welcome speech by Dr. Brian Given of Carleton University, who is also an executive member of the Canada Tibet Committee, Ottawa. Dr. Given spoke of the reasons for demonstrating on this date of the Tibetan uprising and the current human rights situation in Tibet with examples of torture and deaths in custody, assaults on freedom of speech and interference with the Panchen Lama selection process. It was suggested that the example of Gendun Rinchen shows that our protest actions can have a real effect.

Finally, it was noted that our support and actions were shared by demonstrations in over 500 cities worldwide where the Tibetan flag was flown on this date. Demonstrators performed "Five Criminal Acts" which, while completely legal in Canada, could have resulted in imprisonment, torture and possible execution in Chinese-occupied Tibet as follows:

1. We were demonstrating for human rights

2. We handed out information and pictures of the Panchen Lama

3. We read out the names of political prisoners

4. We offered khatas to His Holiness the Dalai Lama and the Panchen Lama

5. We sang the Tibetan national anthem

Thubten Samdup, North American member of parliament to the Tibetan government in-exile and National President of the Canada Tibet Committee, offered opening remarks and read the March 10 message from His Holiness the Dalai Lama of Tibet with translation into both English and French.

Two thrones, with offering tables had been constructed on Parliament Hill by Thupten Champa (President of the Tibetan Cultural Association of Quebec and Jurme Wangda (President of the Ottawa branch of the CTC) conducted a Long Life Prayer for the Dalai Lama and the Panchen Lama, including the traditional offering of khatas (offering white scarves) by the congregation.

While everyone sang the Tibetan national anthem, volunteers handed out 130 ribbons in the colours of Tibetan flag. Each ribbon represented *10,000* Tibetan people who have died as the direct result of China's occupation of Tibet.

We then carried the ribbons with us as we marched from Parliament Hill to the Chinese Embassy. The Police would not allow us to approach the embassy in masse, so we then handed our ribbons to six delegates who were permitted to cross the road. While Thubten Samdup read a few of the names of the victims of China's occupation of Tibet and the demonstrators chanted their support for Tibetan freedom and human rights, they tied the ribbons to the barricade in front of the embassy.