06.18.08

Tibet protests

Posted in Tibet at 2:03 pm by nemo

Tibet Protest March Limps to a Halt

At 9:30 a.m. on June 17, 50 Tibetan activists gathered in the north Indian hill town of Dharchula near India’s border with China. Some 90 days after they first set out to march to Tibet from Dharamsala, the capital of the Tibetan government-in-exile, they knew their protest of China’s rule of their homeland was at an end. Blocking the way was a barricade set up by 200 Indian police. Even the most optimistic among them knew the Indian government would not allow them to approach the Chinese border, let alone attempt to cross it by force. They made one final attempt to break through, approaching the blockade in groups of four, only to be promptly loaded by police onto two waiting buses. It was all over in an hour. The marchers were mostly young, exiled Tibetans, the majority of whom have never set foot in Tibet. There were also a sprinkling of foreigners and freelance journalists. The Tibetan uprising that had begun amid widespread fervor and optimism and had spread around the world was over.

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