August 10, 2008 · Print This Article
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
August 10, 2008
Contacts: In Asia, Lhadon Tethong, Executive Director, and Kate Woznow, Campaigns Director,
+1 917-289-0228 or +44 2070-846-359
TIBETAN WOMAN AND FOUR SUPPORTERS PROTEST AT TIANANMEN SQUARE 5 MORE CANADIANS DETAINED IN BEIJING HOTEL
***Photos and video footage of the action and the activists’ bios will be available shortly at: http://freetibet2008.org/globalactions/tibetanprotest/
Beijing – Five Tibet activists, including a Tibetan woman from Germany, Padma-Dolma Fielitz, 21, staged a protest today at 3:10pm Beijing time just outside the southern entrance of Tiananmen Square.
Padma-Dolma Fielitz and another activist held the Tibetan national flag aloft. As Chinese security officials tried to wrest the flags away, Padma was seen being dragged across the ground. Shortly after, three other activists attempted to unveil a large banner before being removed by Chinese security officials. The banner read: “Tibetans are dying for freedom.” The protest lasted approximately five minutes. All five protesters were detained by the Chinese authorities and their present whereabouts and status are unknown.
The other four activists included two Americans, John Hocevar, 40, of Austin, Texas, and Adam Zenko, 35, of San Francisco, California and two Canadians, Maude Côté, 28, of Quebec, and Steven Erich Andersen, 28, of Alberta. Hocevar is the founding director of Students for a Free Tibet and has been in Beijing since August 4th writing, blogging and providing commentary and analysis to journalists on the Tibet issue (1). Côté is a board member of Students for a Free Tibet Canada.
Before the action, Padma-Dolma said, “There are no words to describe the terrible suffering of my people at this moment – the Chinese government is relentlessly crushing the Tibetan people when they desire nothing more than the restoration of their basic rights and freedom. Tibetans are being killed, silenced and marginalized, our precious religion strangled, as the Chinese government attempts to extinguish all trace of Tibetan identity. I am protesting today to tell the world that, while it stares mesmerized at China’s Olympic Games, my people are being crushed under the boot of Chinese oppression.”
Today’s protest is the first to have included a Tibetan since the Beijing Games began. Fearful of protests, the Chinese government has made it a priority to clear Tibetans out of Beijing in the run up to the Games and have blocked Tibetans living in exile from traveling to China.
At 11:40 am, five Canadian Tibet activists confirmed by phone that they were being detained at their hotel in the Chao-Yang District and questioned in the basement. They have not been heard from since. They are Jasmine Freed, 27; Paul Christopher Baker, 29; Michael Hudema, 31; Denise Ogonoski, 26 and William Nelson, 26.
Notes to editors:
1) Hocevar’s blogs and interviews include:
http://blogs.wsj.com/olympics/2008/08/09/interview-with-students-for-a-free-tibet/ and http://blog.studentsforafreetibet.org/2008/08/06/the-belly-of-the-beast/
Download Full-Resolution Photos set: ATibetansProtestBeijing081008.zip
or view on Flickr http://www.flickr.com/photos/sfthq/sets/72157606641834386/
Audio of protest and statement (transcription below): ATibetansProtest081008ProtestStatement.wav or ZIP Download
Padma-Dolma Fielitz made this statement as she was being detained:
“Free Tibet! Free Tibet!
People are asking, what’s going on
They know exactly what’s going on
They kidnapped Tibet
They kidnappd truth
They kidnapped the Beijing Olympics to demonstrate their power in front of everyone
They say they don’t want to politicize them
but they do
and they’re trying to keep them locked up
This is my land
This affects my people
and we’re not Chinese”
Beijing: A Tibetan’s Protest 08.10.08 from Students for a Free Tibet on Vimeo.
Beijing: A Tibetan’s Protest 08.10.08 from Students for a Free Tibet on Vimeo.
Click here to download MPEG-4 Video of arrest and protest.
Biographies and Pictures
Padma-Dolma Fielitz, 21, is Tibetan from Germany. She currently lives in London where she studies Economics and Development Studies at the School of Oriental and African Studies.
SeasideMan
Pro 
I hope those people are happy to be setting back the cause of Tibet as that's what they're achieving. Imagine it the other way round with Chinese people coming to Britain on a "Free Northern Ireland" campaign and making nuisances of themselves. There isn't a hope in hell that the government would be moved by the childish displays, and nor will the Chinese one be. The more of this that goes on, the less likely it is that China will change it's stance. What's needed is country-level diplomacy. If those protesters REALLY want to see change they should be lobbying the UK parliament, not China.
Tom.