Free Tibet Banner Drop on Great Wall of China, activists detained

Students for a Free Tibet | Free Tibet Campaign

***Video footage and photos available

Contact:
Kate Woznow
(Hong Kong) + 852 657-34874

Matt Whitticase
(Hong Kong) + 852 915-21256

Tenzin Dorjee
(New York) +1 917-304-4571


ACTIVISTS DETAINED FOLLOWING DARING BANNER HANG

Hong Kong - Six Tibet independence activists from the UK, US, and Canada
(1) were detained today after rappelling from the top of the Great Wall of
China with a 450-square foot protest banner reading "One World, One Dream,
Free Tibet 2008" in English and Chinese. The dramatic action took place
on the eve of the one-year countdown to the 2008 Beijing Olympics. Tibet
advocacy groups assert that China is attempting to use the 2008 Games as a
tool to legitimize its illegal occupation of Tibet. Chinese authorities
removed the activists after two hours; their current whereabouts are
unknown.

"The Chinese government is exploiting the Olympics to gain acceptance as a
world leader. By protesting at the Great Wall, the most recognizable
symbol of Chinese nationhood, we're sending a clear message that China's
dream of international leadership cannot be realized as long as it
continues its brutal occupation of Tibet," said Tenzin Dorjee, Deputy
Director of Students for a Free Tibet. "We're appealing to the
international community to shine the light of scrutiny on China in the
coming year," added Dorjee. "The Olympic dream of Tibetans is freedom by
August 2008, and we call on the IOC and the global community to help us
make this a reality."

Today's protest is also directed at the International Olympic Committee
for failing to fulfill its commitment to hold the Chinese government
accountable with regards to its human rights record. In 2002, IOC
President Jacques Rogge said, "If ... human rights are not acted upon [by
China] to our satisfaction then we will act." (2) According to a report
released by Human Rights Watch last week, "the Chinese government shows no
substantive progress in addressing long-standing human rights
concerns." (3)

Matt Whitticase, spokesperson for Free Tibet Campaign said, "The IOC
assured the global community that China's human rights record would
improve as a result of staging the Games. Instead, we have seen the
opposite with a hardening of China's position in Tibet (4), a sustained
government-sponsored resettlement program of Tibetan nomads (5),
increased social and economic marginalization of Tibetans following the
launch of the China-Tibet railway (6), and the closing off of Tibet to
journalists and media scrutiny (7). To stop the Chinese government from
acting with impunity in Tibet, the IOC must publicly demand that
journalists have unrestricted access to Tibet. By refusing to "act", as it
promised, the IOC only helps China to cover up its lamentable human rights
record in Tibet."

Lhadon Tethong, a Tibetan and the Executive Director of SFT, is
currently in Beijing and will try to meet with IOC President Jacque Rogge
today who is in Beijing for tomorrow's celebrations. Tethong is demanding
the IOC immediately oppose propaganda efforts by the Chinese government to
underscore its claim to Tibet, and use its influence to affect substantive
progress on human rights in China and a meaningful resolution to the
occupation of Tibet. In Beijing since Wednesday, Tethong has been openly
blogging at www.BeijingWideOpen.org, exposing the reality behind China's
blatant Olympics propaganda. To mark the Olympics one-year countdown,
Tibetans and their supporters worldwide are organizing protests to demand
a solution to the Tibet issue.
Demonstrations will continue at China's historical landmarks, sports
arenas, and at Chinese Embassies and Consulates around the world between
now and the August 2008 Games.

To see the footage of these amazing Tibetan freedom activists in action,
click on the links below:

You Tube Video 1
You Tube Video 2

You can also see still photos at: Free Tibet Banner Drop Pictures

To read the press release, go to: www.studentsforafreetibet.org
To see press, interviews and blogging go to:
http://blog.studentsforafreetibet.org/
******************
(1) The detained activists are: Melanie Raoul (Vancouver, Canada), Sam
Price (Vancouver, Canada), Leslie Kaup (South St. Paul, Minnesota), Nupur
Modi (Oakland, California), Duane Martinez (Sausalito,
California), Pete Speller (Cambridge, UK).
(2) President Rogge was speaking on the BBC's Hardtalk television
programme in April, 2002.
(3) Human Rights Watch press release available at:
http://hrw.org/english/docs/2007/08/02/china16560.htm.
(4) In November 2005 Zhang Qingli, previously hardline Party
Secretary in Xinjiang, was appointed Party Secretary to Tibet. He has made
increasingly vitriolic public denunciations of His Holiness the Dalai
Lama, referring to "a fight to the death with the Dalai clique". (5)
Human Rights Watch report available at:
http://hrw.org/reports/2007/tibet0607/index.htm.
(6) The official People's Daily reported on 25 July 2007 that
tourists traveling to the Tibetan Autonomous Region (TAR) in the first 6
months of 2007 reached 1.1 million, an increase of 86.3% over the same
period for 2006, according to the regional tourism bureau. Xinhua
reported on 9 May 2007 that the region is forecast to host 3 million
visitors this year, a total that exceeds the population of the TAR. (7)
Despite a pledge by Olympics Press Chief, Sun Weijia, that "they (foreign
journalists) can travel anywhere in China. There will be no restrictions"
(DPA, 28 September 2006), China subsequently announced that all foreign
journalists must obtain a special permit prior to traveling to Tibet.