Every year, a bike race honors the Tibetan rebellion.
Riders in the annual Cycling for a Free Tibet event yesterday started on their first course through Taipei to commemorate the 66th anniversary of the Tibetan uprising and speak out for suppressed groups in China, the event organizer said.
Riders, including Tibetans in exile, are to cycle through the streets of Taipei every Wednesday leading up to Tibetan Uprising Day on March 10 to speak out for those who are being oppressed in China, the Human Rights Network for Tibet and Taiwan (HRNTT) said in a statement.
After the first ride yesterday, similar rides are to be held in Taipei on Wednesday next week, Feb. 19, Feb. 26 and March 5, as well as in Kaohsiung on March 1, the group said.
A march to commemorate the 66th anniversary of the Tibetan Uprising is to be held by the Taiwan Tibetan Welfare Association in Taipei on the afternoon of March 9, followed by a candlelight vigil on March 10 at Liberty Square.
Among the dozen or so participants chanting slogans such as “Free Tibet” and “Tibet belongs to Tibetans” outside the Legislative Yuan before yesterday’s ride was Tashi Tsering, HRNTT secretary-general and a Taiwan-based Tibetan who has never set foot in his homeland.
“Many of my friends say: ‘Your slogans have remained the same from the beginning until now,’” Tashi Tsering said, adding that it was because suppression of Tibetans by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) “has not changed at all” since 1959, the year of the uprising.
On March 10, 1959, about 10,000 Tibetans gathered in Lhasa to protest China’s tightening control, but the uprising was brutally put down, leading to the Dalai Lama’s exile to India and about 150,000 Tibetans fleeing into exile overseas, the HRNTT said.
Tashi Tsering said that many diaspora groups who are “suffering,” including Tibetans, Uighurs and Hong Kongers, have come to Taiwan believing that Taiwan’s commitment to human rights and freedom could help them achieve their goals, including pursuing Tibet independence, despite the threat from the CCP.
Visiting Taiwan from India to join the cycling event, Tibetan Youth Congress president Gonpo Dhondup said that since 2009, more than 160 Tibetans have self-immolated for the “freedom and independence of Tibet.”
Gondo Dhondup, whose group is the largest non-governmental organization within the Tibetan exile community with more than 35,000 members, said the cycling event is aimed at sending a message to the Chinese government that “the Tibetan people will continue to fight until our rightful independence is restored.”
