Support From the UK

By Tenzin Samten / March 8, 2018;

Wreath laying ceremony Photo: Tibet Society

The British Tibet Society and All Party Parliamentary Group for Tibet (APPGT) UK organised a wreath laying ceremony at the Innocent Victims’ Memorial at Westminster Abbey next to the Houses of Parliament in London on March 7 to mark the 59^th anniversary of Tibetan National Uprising. This annual event marks Tibetan National Uprising day – a day commemorated annually by exiled Tibetans and Tibet supporters around the world to remember the uprising in Lhasa on March 10, 1959. Thousands of Tibetan people were killed and His Holiness the Dalai Lama fled into exile in India followed by fellow Tibetans.

Photo: Tibet Society

Addressing the gathering, Tim Loughton MP, Co-Chair of the APPTG said, “Despite this year being the 59th Anniversary of the Tibetan National Uprising, conditions in Tibet remain desperate. The oppression of Tibet’s culture, religion and freedom of worship is as severe as ever. It is important that we in Parliament continue to show solidarity with the Tibetan people.”

“The events of March 10, 1959 are a stain on the world’s conscience” said Gloria Montgomery, Head of Advocacy and Campaigns at Tibet Society.

Following the ceremony the Tibet Society, along with other British Tibet support groups Free Tibet, Students for a Free Tibet and the Tibetan Community in Britain, jointly organised another annual event – Lobby Day – a day dedicated to standing up for Tibet and encouraging the MPs to increase support for Tibetans rights and freedom within Parliament. A letter will be presented to the Chinese embassy on March 10 and a petition to British Prime Minister Theresa May on March 14.

The event was attended by MPs, representatives from diplomatic missions and civil society organisations as well as representatives of Tibet support groups in the UK.

The Tibet Society is one of the first Tibet support groups founded in 1959 and the organisation continues to work actively for the freedom of Tibetan people and their right to self determination.

Supporters and Tibetan representatives at Northampton’s Tibetan flag raising ceremony
Photo: Office of Tibet, London

And in Northampton on March 5 the Tibetan national flag was raised in front of the Guildhall despite protests from a couple of Chinese businessmen. Along with the Mayor of Northampton Councillor Gareth Eales, Deputy Leader of Northampton Borough Council Councillor Phil Larratt and the Representative of His Holiness the Dalai Lama for Northern Europe, Baltic States and Poland, Chonpel Tsering, a crowd of 140 people gathered for the event and speeches.