LOS ANGELES: Over 200 Southern California Tibetans and Tibet supporters joined in the Global Day of Action by protesting at the Chinese Consulate in Los Angeles. There was a big contingent of Vietnamese Americans, many of whom having lived under Communism came to show their solidarity with the suffering people of Tibet.
Protests, vigils, and prayer ceremonies for Tibet were held in 85 cities in 28 different countries around world, as the Olympic Torch arrived in Beijing, to highlight the suffering of the Tibetan people during China’s current crackdown.
Tibetans in exile and Tibet supporters called for all Tibetan areas to be withdrawn from the Torch Relay, stating that celebrating China’s Olympic Torch and its so-called "Journey of Harmony" in Tibet whilst the Tibetan people have been crushed by China’s military force is an abomination that must be stopped. An hour of chanting slogans such "China - Stop the Killings in Tibet", "China - Stop the Torture in Tibet", "IOC - Speak for Tibet", was followed with speeches by Namgyal Kylulo, President of Tibetan Association of Southern California; Tenzing Chonden, North American Representative in the Tibetan Exile Parliament; Lisa Kelly, President of Los Angeles Friends of Tibet and by a Vietnamese community leader.
Forty Tibetans, each wearing the name of one of the victims of the recent Chinese crackdown in Tibet, staged a "die-in" by laying on the ground, while prayers were recited by Buddhist monks. A candle was lit for each of the 140 confirmed Tibetan dead. Fifteen boxes of petitions for Hu Jintao were symbolically presented to the Chinese Consulate.
The petitions were collected by AVAAZ.org, a global online advocacy organization that has collected 1.5 million signatures over the last 10 days from around the world on a petition drive which called for dialogue between the China and the Dalai Lama. This is believed to be the fastest-growing global online petition in history. The protesters then marched around the block, calling for China to conduct a dialogue with Tibetans.
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