Tibetan Government-in-exile halts anti-China protests

Dharamsala, May 21 : Nine days after an earthquake hit China's Sichuan Province, claiming 40,000 lives, the Tibetan Government-in-Exile brought a temporary halt to their anti-China protests to express solidarity with the victims.

"In order to express our solidarity with the great natural disaster that befell on China, Tibetans across the world should shun staging demonstrations in front of Chinese Embassies in the respective host countries they live in at least till about the end of May," said Tibetan government-in-exile in a statement.

The statement said exiled Tibetans have offered prayers for the victims of the earthquake that struck Southwest China on May 12.

The Dalai Lama said, "Let us pray and express our condolences to the Chinese people. Let us share this sadness of thousands and thousands of Chinese who suffered due to the earthquake."

The Tibetan government-in-exile had also organised a special prayer session at the main Buddhist temple in Dharamsala on Tuesday.

It asked Tibetans to even raise donations for the quake victims.

Karma Chophel, Speaker of the Tibetan parliament-in- exile on May 19 had asked the Tibetans to put off protests in front of Chinese Embassies until the end of May.

ANI