March 10th - London

On March 8th, hundreds of Tibetans and supporters from across the UK and Europe travelled to London to participate in a march to commemorate the 49th anniversary of the Lhasa Uprising in 1959. The peaceful, colourful and noisy procession provided a stark contrast to the foreboding grey skies as it marched through London, passing sights such as Oxford Street, Piccadilly Circus, Trafalgar Square and the Houses of Parliament. The march was headed by four of the 'Drapchi 14' aka. the 'Singing Nuns'. Ngawang Sangdrol, Phuntsog Nyidron, Gyancain Grolkar and Namdrol Lhamo were all imprisoned between 1990 and 1992, all for protesting against Chinese rule in Tibet. The nuns all had their sentences extended for recording songs of protest against Chinese rule, and singing for a Free Tibet in 1993. These recordings were smuggled out of the prison and to the outside world. The nuns also delivered a letter to Gordon Brown at 10 Downing Street.

Fabian Hamilton, MP for Leeds North East and member of the cross-party parliamentary Tibet group spoke about his experiences of China's continued occupation of Tibet at Westminster Cathedral in the function held after the march. Later that evening, the four nuns and various other Tibetan performers from the Tibetan Community in Britain performed a gig on Oxford Street in the Salvation Army Hall. The nuns have been brought to the UK by the Tibetan Community in Britain, and will be touring the UK until April 6th. The nuns are visiting four SFT local groups: SOAS, Essex, Warwick & Leeds. View their itinerary at: http://drapchi14reunion.com/itinerary.html to see if they're visiting a city near you.

In other March 10th news, marches have been held globally, from Australia to France, from the US to Delhi. Protests have even occurred in Lhasa, with reports of over 300 monks from Drepung being arrested, and others arrested near Tibet's main temple, the Jokhang. The return march to Tibet was sadly halted by Indian police after the Indian government was pressurised from the Chinese government. The Greek government also refused to allow Team Tibet members to enter Olympia to light the Tibetan Olympic Torch. The Athens police were working closely with the Chinese embassy, and seemingly harassed and bullied the peaceful Tibetan activists including SFT's Tendor who last year protested on Mount Everest. Here at SFT UK we find this trend of democratic government's bowing to the demands of the autocratic Chinese government extremely worrying, and urge activists in these countries to pressure their government's to take a harder line against China's human rights record and it's continued occupation of Tibet.

Despite censorship by the Indian, Greek and Chinese governments, Tibetans and supporters voices of dissent have sent a clear message for the oncoming Olympics: We're ready, is China?