URGENT APPEAL TO INDIAN CITIZENS & OLYMPIC TORCH-BEARERS:


When China's Torch Comes to India on April 17th - Speak out for Tibet.

We appeal to all Indian citizens and, in particular, those people chosen to be Olympic torch-bearers, to speak out for the Tibetan people when China's Torch comes to India on April 17th. At this critical moment, when countless Tibetans are suffering under a violent military crackdown by the Chinese government, we need to show that global citizens support the Tibetan people's right to be free and to live their lives as they see fit.

The courageous actions taken by Tibetans inside Tibet over the past few weeks demonstrate that Tibetans have suffered unimaginably under a half century of Chinese rule. They are now risking everything and crying out for freedom. By speaking out when the Chinese government brings the Olympic Torch to India you will send a strong message to Tibetans, to the Chinese government, and to the world, that Indians support the Dalai Lama and the Tibetan people's nonviolent struggle for freedom and justice.

There are so many ways for everyone to take action.

Torch-bearers can:
-withdraw from the relay;
-wear a Free Tibet shirt or hold the Tibetan flag as they run with the torch;
-issue a statement in support of the Tibetan people before the Relay.
Indian citizens can:
-join or organize a protest as the Torch passes through Delhi;
-wear a Free Tibet shirt or hold a Tibetan flag as the Torch passes by;
-plan a solidarity action in your town or city on April 17th.

As the Chinese government runs the Olympic torch around the world and attempts to whitewash its human rights violations and legitimize its illegal occupation of Tibet, tens of thousands of Tibetans and supporters will be speaking out to expose China's lies. Please join this global chorus of voices calling for justice for Tibet!

Click Here to learn more about the Olympics Torch

IOC: NO TORCH THROUGH TIBET!



TAKE ACTION NOW and tell the International Olympic Committee (IOC) to immediately remove Tibet from the Olympic torch relay route.

March 24th – Tibetan activists and SFT's Tenzin Dorjee were detained in Olympia, Greece for protesting the beginning of China's Olympic torch relay.


Visit the SFT blog for more information on the protests.
Click here for BBC's video coverage of the protests.
Click here to read SFT's press release.

Please also contact your country's National Olympic Committee (NOC) to ask them to directly appeal to the IOC. Your NOC speaks not only for your country's athletes but for your nation as well.

Click here for contact information for your country's National Olympic Committee. Click here for talking points and a sample email/letter.

INDIAN GOVERNMENT BLOCKS TIBETAN RETURN MARCH
11 March, 2008

Police Issue Restraining Order Against All Core Marchers

Dharamshala - Indian police today issued a restraining order from the central government in the names of all 100 Core Marchers participating in the Return March to Tibet. Police entered the grounds at Sarah College for Higher Tibetan Studies, where the Marchers are spending their first night on the road, and a restraining order was issued, claiming that the Core Marchers' actions may "culminate into endangering public tranquility and breach of public peace." The police told the Marchers they were "not to leave the territorial jurisdiction of Kangra District till further order." The March, organized by five leading Tibetan non-governmental organisations based in India, is meant to travel through New Delhi before heading towards the Indo-Tibetan border in early April.

TIBETAN EXILES LAUNCH THE MARCH TO TIBET
March 10, 2008

Dharamshala - Tibetans in exile marked the 49th anniversary of the 1959 national uprising in Tibet with the launch of a historic journey homeward today. The March to Tibet commenced from Dharamshala, the exile home of His Holiness the Dalai Lama and seat of the Tibetan Government-in-Exile. This initiative, organized by five leading Tibetan non-governmental organizations based in India and launched less than five months before China is set to host the summer Olympics, is aimed at both fighting the Chinese occupation of Tibet and reinvigorating the Tibetan freedom movement.