TIBET PROTESTORS UNFURL TIBET FLAG AT HONG KONG OLYMPIC EVENT
August 9, 2008 · Print This Article
Students for a Free Tibet
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contacts:
In Hong Kong: Brianna Cotter, +852-6405-0446 and Matt Browner-Hamlin, +852-9284-2864
In Asia: Lhadon Tethong, Executive Director and Kate Woznow, Campaigns Director, +1 917-289-0228 or +44 2070-846-359
* The activists’ bios will be available shortly at: http://freetibet2008.org/mediacenter/updates/
Hong Kong – Two Tibet protestors unveiled a Tibetan national flag during an Olympic equestrian competition at Sha Tin Stadium this evening. The protestors stood up and unfurled the flag directly below the display of other national flags. A dozen stadium security officials quickly detained the two, placing sheets over their heads and holding them by their wrists.
The protestors made statements about the critical human rights situation in Tibet as they were being escorted from their seats. Matthew Browner-Hamlin, 26, of New York, and Brianna Cotter, 27, of San Francisco, are both Americans. They were released outside the stadium where they held a brief press conference.
“The specter of China’s human rights abuses in Tibet is hanging over the Games, but the Chinese government tried to bury it last night under the triumphalism of its opening ceremony,” said Matthew Browner-Hamlin. “We came here today to unfurl the flag that is missing from the Olympic Games, and to raise awareness of the plight of the Tibetan people under Chinese rule.”
Hong Kong is hosting the Olympics’ equestrian events. Before Hong Kong returned to China in 1997, Britain struck a deal with Chinese leaders that Hong Kong’s freedoms would continue for fifty years. Since then, Hong Kong has witnessed a steady erosion of those freedoms.
Earlier this year, three free Tibet activists were refused entry to Hong Kong. The three, Canadians Tsering Lama, 23, and Kate Woznow, 28, and Briton, Matt Whitticase, 39, had traveled to Hong Kong to speak at a press conference on the eve of the Olympic Torch passing through Hong Kong. Whitticase grew up in Hong Kong and was formerly a long-term resident.
“Even in Hong Kong, which is supposed to guarantee freedom of expression, China won’t tolerate even the most peaceful form of dissent over its abuses in Tibet,” said Lhadon Tethong, Executive Director of Students for a Free Tibet. “Tonight’s detentions are the latest slap in the face for the concept of one country, two systems.”
The action follows three other high-profile protests by Students for a Free Tibet. Today, five demonstrators staged a mock die-in in Tiananmen Square, and were then detained. Earlier, three activists held Tibetan flags aloft near the Bird’s Nest stadium and earlier in the week, four Tibet activists hung banners outside the Bird’s Nest. (See http://freetibet2008.org/mediacenter/).
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[...] and globally. Anchorage’s own Matt Browner-Hamlin made his statement loud and clear as he unfurled a Tibetan flag at an equestrian event in Hong Kong. Others around the world have done the same to raise the [...]
I am deeply ashamed to see on the news that one of your members used a Canadian flag to hide a Tibetan flag during your protest in Hong Kong. Was this person Canadian? Your article seems to lead one to believe they were both American. If this is the case, I am EXTREMELY insulted that they were not brave enough to use their own country’s flag, rather, tarnishing the image of Canada in Hong Kong. If it was a Canadian, I am also EXTREMELY ashamed that they used Canada’s flag, as if speaking for Canadians on this issue. It was an UNNECESSARY MOVE to use national flags to hide a Tibetan flag - one could have easily placed the flag down one’s shirt, purse or backpack. I too felt deeply about Tibet before I MOVED AND LIVED IN CHINA for 3 years and have seen with my own eyes the progress they are making. Try moving back to Canada and protesting the lack of rights and cultural assimilation of Canada’s own aboriginal people instead of meddling in others’ business while at the same time ruining the much needed economic relations Canada and China have. Or, stay in China, open your eyes, have meaningful dialogue, learn Chinese, read the news and history in their language, and then make a valid protest in Canada via proper channels, instead of BREAKING THE LAW.
okay so china is making progress you say, but obviosly it is a police
state and infomation on what westerners and the population of China can and cannot see is very strict.
here’s a link to footage shot by a tibetan exile
Unfortunatley not the whole program, but watching it can’t be denied what is happening in Tibet is a brutal abuse of human rights
htt//www.channel4.com/video/dispatches-undercover-in-tibet/index.
html