Siliguri Tibetans protest Chinese repression in homeland

Siliguri, July 27 : Tibetans living in exile in Siliguri took out a rally to seek international attention on their freedom struggle.

Holding flags, around 500 Tibetans including school children took part in the protest rally.

As the Beijing Olympics approach, the Tibetans are trying to reinvigorate their freedom movement and protest against what they see as China's illegal occupation of their homeland.

"Our objective is along with the attention that is being focused, the international lympics that is being focused on the happening of Olympics in Beijing. We also would like the international attention to go on Tibet that has been happening since March 10 and also the conditions existing there so that they know what is happening in Tibet," said Sonum Lamdup, general secretary of Himalayan Buddhist Cultural Association.

The Tibetans-in-exile across the world have been holding rallies and demonstrations to protest against Chinese policies in Tibet.

China resumed fence-mending talks with envoys of Tibet's exiled spiritual leader, the Dalai Lama, on July 1 in a move that could burnish its international image weeks before the Chinese capital hosts the Olympics.

It is the second closed-door meeting between the representatives of the Dalai Lama and the Chinese Government since rioting erupted in Tibet in March and heaped international pressure on China to deal with the Nobel laureate.

ANI