Tibetans and Students for a Free Tibet activists demonstrated outside the Chinese Embassy today to protest against the recent fatal shooting of unarmed Tibetans as they tried to escape across the Himalayas from Chinese occupied Tibet into neighbouring Nepal.

Shocking eyewitness reports from members of the party have confirmed that Chinese forces opened fire on the group on 30 September 2006, killing a 17-year-old nun. Up to five more Tibetans are feared dead after the soldiers, stationed at the Nangpa Pass between Tibet and Nepal, opened fire on the caravan of more than 70 escaping Tibetans, which included children as young as seven. The news first broke on the popular mountaineering website www.mounteverest.net. Foreign mountaineers at the nearby Cho Oyu advance base camp witnessed the incident and described how the soldiers took careful aim and fired repeatedly on the defenceless Tibetans, even as they attempted to escape.

Forty-three people from the group have successfully crossed into Nepal and have now reached the United Nations sponsored Tibetan Refugee Reception Centre in Kathmandu. The fate of the other Tibetans, including at least 14 children, remains unknown. There is concern that many of them may have been injured during the shooting and apprehended by the security forces.

Pema Yoko of Tibetan Youth UK said “The killings expose the true nature of China’s brutal rule in Tibet and contradict recent Chinese propaganda reports touting China’s benevolent policies towards Tibetans. As a Tibetan living in the UK, it’s important for me to voice my protest to the Chinese government on behalf of Tibetans in Tibet who face this persecution and cannot speak out for fear of government reprisal.”

“While the Chinese government has ruled out the use of force against North Korea, it continues to use lethal force against Tibetans trying to escape China’s brutal occupation of their homeland,” said Conall Watson of Students for a Free Tibet UK. He continued: “The shooting of unarmed Tibetans as they flee across the Himalayas is a shameful act by Chinese military forces, and deserves international condemnation. This latest brutal episode shows that while the Chinese government is keen to court foreign investment and dabble in diplomacy, it has not stopped using its military power for the violent oppression of Tibetans and other minority groups.”

There are frequent reports of Tibetan refugees being shot at on both sides of the Nepal-Tibet border but this is the most serious known attack in recent years. The fact that many Tibetan traders frequently cross the Nangpa Pass to sell goods in a nearby market without attracting the attention of the border patrol suggests that this was a calculated attack.

It is estimated that approximately 2500 Tibetans make the dangerous crossing of the Himalayas into Nepal every year. Around one-third of Tibetan refugees are children, sent to India to receive an education in the Tibetan language and culture, which is denied to them under the Chinese occupation. Many others fleeing Tibet are Buddhist monks and nuns seeking to practice their religion freely in exile.

Tibetans and Students for a Free Tibet activists are organising demonstrations around the world against China’s horrific shooting. Protests are planned in New York, Paris, Zurich, San Francisco, Toronto and Dharamsala, the exile home of the Dalai Lama in India.