FREE TIBET CAMPAIGNERS SPEAK OUT IN BEIJING

IMPROMPTU PRESS CONFERENCE HELD AS OLYMPICS NEAR THEIR END

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: August 22 2008

Contacts: In Beijing: Alice Speller and Ginger Cassady, +86 15 101 574 168
In Asia: Lhadon Tethong, Executive Director, and Kate Woznow, Campaigns Director, +66 846 517 681 or +1 917 289 0219

***Photos and bios available at http://freetibet2008.org/globalactions/pressconference/

Beijing – Two members of Students for a Free Tibet held an open-air press conference in Beijing today at 2:35 pm outside the Jianguomenwai diplomatic compound. Briton Alice Speller, 25, and American Ginger Cassady, 30, spoke for ten minutes and answered questions from journalists. The press conference capped two and a half weeks of protests by Tibetans and their supporters in Beijing and a seven-year global campaign since Beijing’s Olympic bid to make China’s ongoing and brutal occupation of Tibet a critical issue for the current and future Chinese leadership.

With two more days left to go of the Olympic Games, the two declared the protest campaign in Beijing a success and spoke of the resolve of Tibetans and Tibet supporters globally to continue to press the Chinese leadership for meaningful change. “[Students for a Free Tibet has] organized eight nonviolent direct actions here while we’ve been in China, successfully – we call it our lucky eight,” said Ginger Cassady, a volunteer activist with Students for a Free Tibet in the San Francisco Bay area.

“This is not the end of our campaign, this is only the beginning,” added Alice Speller, former National Coordinator of Students for a Free Tibet UK. “When China was awarded the Olympics, protest was inevitable…what we’re doing today is standing in solidarity with Tibetans inside Tibet.”

Ms. Speller continued, “Thousands remain detained and missing following China’s violent and brutal crackdown against Tibetans who risked everything, taking to the streets to speak out for human rights, freedom, and justice.” Peaceful protests in the Tibetan capital Lhasa in March sparked a national uprising that spread throughout the Tibetan plateau. Chinese authorities have responded with lethal force to Tibetan protests, most recently shooting and killing a Tibetan nun on August 10th after she peacefully protested in Kardze (Chinese: Ganzi), in eastern Tibet, according to an eyewitness report.

“While we know that the Chinese authorities are likely to step up their attacks on Tibetans in the coming months as the Olympic spotlight fades, we also know that change only comes when people stand up and demand it. The historic protests that have taken place in Beijing, in Tibet, and around the world this Olympic year have ensured that Tibet is recognized as an issue of global significance that demands immediate attention from the Chinese leadership and governments around the world,” said Lhadon Tethong, Executive Director of Students for a Free Tibet.

Ms. Cassady and Ms. Speller were followed by four undercover police vehicles as they left the diplomatic compound. Yesterday, six other Tibet supporters in Beijing were sentenced to 10 days “administrative detention” after having been detained early on August 19th. (1) Meanwhile, British and German embassies have told family members of two other activists, including a Tibetan-German, that they have also been sentenced to 10 days “administrative detention” by Chinese police. The two protested with two Americans on August 21st. (2)

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Notes for editors:

1) The four activists are Tibetan-German Florian Norbu Gyanatshang, 30, of Stuttgart, Germany, Jeremy Wells, 38, and John Watterberg, 30, both of New York, and Mandie McKeown, 41, of Bristol, United Kingdom. The four were swarmed at just past midnight by dozens of plainclothes police after a brief protest near the Bird’s Nest stadium. McKeown acted as an observer while Gyanatshang displayed a Tibetan flag and Wells and Watterberg raised their fists in the air in a gesture modeled on the 1968 protest of Tommie Smith and John Carlos at the Mexico City games. The action took place early Thursday morning shortly after the men’s 200 meter dash final at the Bird’s Nest, the event at which Carlos and Smith held their historic protest. See http://freetibet2008.org/globalactions/tibetanflag/

2) The six are artist James Powderly, 32, and citizen journalists and activists Brian Conley, 28, Jeffrey Rae, 28, Jeffrey Goldin, 40, Michael Liss, 35, and Tom Grant, 39, all American citizens. Powderly, a high-tech graffiti artist, was planning a pro-Tibet laser art exhibition in Beijing. The five others – photographers, videographers, writers and bloggers – have been documenting and supporting pro-Tibet demonstrations in Beijing. See http://freetibet2008.org/globalactions/citizenjournalists/

3) Students for a Free Tibet has staged eight protests in Beijing over the last two weeks, placing the issue of Tibet’s occupation front and centre as China hosts the Olympic Games. The protests have included 1) a dramatic banner hang near the Bird’s Nest Stadium; 2) a display of Tibetan flags near the Bird’s Nest just before the opening ceremony began; 3) a symbolic die-in at Tiananmen Square;
4) a protest by a Tibetan woman with flags outside Tiananmen Square; 5) a blockade of the Chinese Ethnic Culture Park; 6) a “Free Tibet” banner hang outside the CCTV headquarters; 7) an LED light banner outside the Bird’s Nest reading “Free Tibet;” and a salute and flag raising by activists outside the Bird’s Nest at the end of the men’s 200 meter dash finals, in the spirit of the John Carlos and Tommie Smith’s 1968 Olympic protest after the same event.

4) Forty-five activists from the USA, UK, Canada, Germany, Tibet, Australia, and Japan, including three Tibetans with foreign passports, have been detained and deported for participating in, observing or supporting pro-Tibet protests in Beijing since August 6th.