Solidarity message to the people of Hong Kong from the worldwide Tibet movement Global Members of International Tibet Network [1], a coalition of 180 Tibet-related campaign organisations, stand in solidarity with the people of Hong Kong in their courageous non-violent protests. We support their struggle to retain their democratic rights and freedoms; rights that have been denied the Tibetan people since China occupied Tibet over six decades ago. The protesters in Hong Kong are on the front line of the struggle for freedom for everyone under Beijing’s totalitarian rule. The future of Tibetans, Uighurs and many other disenfranchised people living within the People’s Republic of China, as well as the people of Taiwan, are inextricably linked to Hong Kong. Beijing cannot be allowed to erode Hong Kong’s precious rights or break the promises it made to the people there, and we urge the governments of the world to join together and collectively call on China to allow peaceful protest and take steps towards full democracy in Hong Kong. We especially urge the British Government to strengthen its call on China to honour its 1997 treaty obligations, and ensure that genuine democratic elections are given to Hong Kong citizens in 2017. We are concerned at references to “unimaginable” consequences in today’s People’s Daily [2] and call on the Chinese authorities to refrain from the use of force to quell peaceful protests, as they have done so frequently in Tibet, or tear gas and pepper spray, and immediately and unconditionally release all individuals detained in Hong Kong for supporting the pro-democracy protests. [3] The Tibet movement is especially thankful for the presence of international media in Hong Kong, so that this moment in history which has, as Wang Dan has said “stimulated a new generations passion” [4] can be freely reported. We call on China to end media censorship and allow these reports to be viewed by residents of mainland China.
Posted on: Thu, 02 Oct 2014 09:52:27 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015