For immediate release

Contact:

Dorje Kunchog - Georgia Tibet Committee 770-938-9590

Diane Tsmpel - Georgia Tibet Committee 770-431-9761

Human Rights for Tibet-Boycott Chinese Goods Protest Outside Atlanta Civic Center

July 7, 11am-5pm

3pm-5pm, demonstration by 13 Tibetan Buddhist Monks

A peaceful demonstration protesting China's ongoing human rights abuses in the occupied nation of Tibet is being held July 7 from 11am-5pm outside of the Atlanta Civic Center, 395 Piedmont Ave. in Atlanta. Representatives from Georgia Tibet support groups including 13 Tibetan Buddhist monks will be demonstrating against Chinese efforts to strengthen US-China trade, because of the Communist government's appalling human rights record in Tibet.

The Chinese are staging '96 China Expo, a business and cultural show that will capitalize on the large number of international visitors in Atlanta for the Olympics. The trade show will feature 50 to 60 businesses from Beijing, and showcase Chinese culture and Chinese economics. It is an outrage that the Chinese government, with its long history of persecution of its minorities, should be blindly welcomed in Atlanta, the cradle of the American civil rights movement. The Beijing government has a forty-five-year record of human rights abuses in Tibet and, up until today, is unprincipled in its practices of repression and abuse.

[goes on to chronicle documented facts regarding human rights abuses in Tibet]

GTC will carry similar efforts forward into the Olympics, which will be held here 7/19-8/4. We'll post details as they firm up.