For more information contact: Deke Samchok (732-9910) or Janet Lau (736-5215)

The City of Vancouver has once again proclaimed March 10th "Tibet Day".

Please join us and show your support on this 38th anniversary of the Tibetan National Uprising

When: Sunday, March 9, 1997 (i.e. not March 10th) 2:00 - 4:00 PM

Where: Consulate of the People's Republic of China - 3380 Granville Street (just south of 16th Ave) - Vancouver

Background

On March 10, 1959, Tibetans rose up against the Chinese occupation of their country to reaffirm their country's independence. The uprising resulted in a massacre in Lhasa, Tibet's capital, and the exile of the fourteenth Dalai Lama, together with thousands of Tibetans. This historic uprising has come to be a symbol of the tenacious determination of Tibetans to regain Tibet's freedom and has been called Tibetan National Uprising Day. Over the past 38 years in occupied Tibet, there have been repeated violations of basic human rights, environmental destruction, suppression of religious freedoms and a policy of forced abortions, sterilisation and population transfer-forcing Tibetans to face the prospect of becoming a minority within their own country.

To commemorate the 38th anniversary of the Tibetan National Uprising the Tibetan communities of British Columbia and their supporters will gather at the gates of the Chinese Consulate to protest China's illegal occupation of Tibet. The protest will focus on Gedhun Choekyi Nyima, the youngest prisoner of conscience as identified by Amnesty International, and Ngawang Choephel, a Fullbright scholar who was recently sentenced to 18 years in prison for filming Tibetan cultural events in Tibet.