Tibetan Uprising Day: Stir outside Chinese embassy

PTI, NEW DELHI/DHARAMSALA, 10 Mar 2015: Hundreds of Tibetan activists on Tuesday held a protest outside the Chinese embassy here to mark the 59th Tibetan National Uprising Day. 

Waving Tibetan flags, the protesters formed a human chain and chanted slogans against China over what they called the denial of human rights in Tibet. Initially, there were only 20-25 protesters but their numbers swelled as hundreds more poured in at Chanakyapuri, where police had a tough time handling the stir. 

As the crowd kept increasing, police personnel beefed up security in and around the Chinese embassy. The protesters tried to march towards the embassy but were prevented by police from entering the high-security complex. 

The police took some of the protesters away in PCR vans and later said that around 50 of them have been detained. 

Tibetan Uprising Day is observed by organisations and individuals who support the cause of Tibetan independence. Observed on March 10, Tibetan Uprising Day commemorates the 1959 uprising against the presence of the People's Republic of China in Tibet. 

Tibetan political leader Lobsang Sangay during the day expressed willingness to engage with Chinese government, while upholding Tibetan spiritual leader the Dalai Lama's 'middle-way approach'. 

"The envoys of the Dalai Lama are ready to engage in dialogue with their Chinese counterparts any time and any place," Sangay said on the occasion of the Uprising Day. Retreating the commitment of Tibetans to the 'middle-way approach' of Lama and not seeking a separate state but genuine autonomy within China for Tibetans, he said, "In order to realise genuine autonomy for the Tibetan people, the Task Force, an advisory body to the cabinet held a conclave in the first week of January." 

It undertook an in-depth discussion on the political developments in Tibet on issues relating to the future of dialogue with the Chinese leadership and on developments in the larger international political landscape, he said in a statement. 

"We believe that all people in the People's Republic of China would benefit from the fruits of dialogue and urge the Chinese government to seize the opportunity to further engage with the Dalai Lama," the democratically-elected political leader said.