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

Submitted by: "David Cherniack"

Date: Tue, 12 Mar 1996 22:10:32 -0500

The Czech Foreign Ministry said on Monday that while it supported China's territorial integrity, it was not in a position to interfere with community projects condemning Beijing's policy on Tibet. Our correspondent says that in this way, the ministry indirectly reacted to the hoisting of the Tibetan flag at the town halls in Hradec Kralove and Prague's Zizkov borough, to mark the 37th anniversary of an anti-communist rebellion in Tibet's capital Lhasa.

This anniversary was marked throughout the world on Sunday. Here in Prague, a humanitarian organisation staged a protest outside the Chinese embassy on Monday afternoon, but an embassy official refused to accept a letter protesting China's policy on Tibet.. Leaders of several Czech cities and towns joined 570 mayors around the world in raising the Tibetan flag on Sunday to commemorate the anniversary. The Chinese embassy in Prague condemned the move as the celebration of a counter-revolutionary coup in Tibet and an expression of open support for what it termed "the separatist action of the Dalai Lama's group, and interference with Chinese internal affairs. "