Marking Uprising's Anniversary, Tibetans Scuffle With Cops

Protests in India honor the anniversary of the failed 1959 uprising
By Newser Editors and Wire Services
Posted Mar 10, 2025 9:21 AM CDT
Marking Uprising's Anniversary, Tibetans Scuffle With Cops
Exiled Tibetans mark the 66th anniversary of an uprising in Tibetan capital Lhasa, as they participate in a march in Dharamshala, India, Monday, March 10, 2025.   (AP Photo/Ashwini Bhatia)

Dozens of Tibetan protesters clashed with police outside the Chinese embassy in New Delhi on Monday as Tibetans living in exile marked the 66th anniversary of their uprising against China that was crushed by Chinese forces. As in past years, police blocked the protesters from entering the embassy and briefly detained some of them after wrestling them to the ground, reports the AP. Hundreds also marched in the north Indian town of Dharamshala, the seat of the exiled Tibetan government and home of the Dalai Lama, their 89-year-old spiritual leader. Separately, about a hundred Tibetan women gathered at Jantar Mantar in New Delhi, an area designated for protests close to Parliament. The protesters shouted anti-China slogans, carried Tibetan flags, and played the national anthems of Tibet and India.

India considers Tibet to be part of China, although it hosts the Tibetan exiles. The 1959 independence uprising was quelled by the Chinese army, forcing the Dalai Lama and his followers into exile in India. Many had their faces painted in colors of the Tibetan national flag. The demonstrators observed a minute of silence to remember Tibetans who lost their lives in the struggle against China. Monks, activists, nuns, and schoolchildren marched across the town with banners reading, "Free Tibet" and "Remember, Resist, Return." Penpa Tsering—the president of the Central Tibetan Administration, as the exiled Tibetan government calls itself—accused China's leadership of carrying out a "deliberate and dangerous strategy to eliminate the very identity of the Tibetan people."

"This marks the darkest and most critical period in the history of Tibet," Tsering told the gathering. "As we commemorate the Tibetan National Uprising Day, we honor our brave martyrs, and express solidarity with our brothers and sisters inside Tibet who continue to languish under the oppressive Chinese government." The Tibetan government-in-exile in India accuses China of denying the most fundamental human rights to people in Tibet and trying to expunge the Tibetan identity. China claims Tibet has been part of its territory for centuries, but the Tibetans say the Himalayan region was virtually independent until China occupied it in 1950. (More Tibet stories.)

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