NEW DELHI (AP) — Hundreds of Tibetans in exile marched on the streets of New Delhi on Sunday to commemorate the 65th Tibetan National Uprising Day against China.
Over 300 protesters gathered near India’s Parliament House and chanted slogans including “Tibet was never a part of China” and “China should leave Tibet.”
The protesters carried Tibetan flags and photographs of their spiritual leader, the Dalai Lama.
The 88-year-old Dalai Lama has made the Indian hillside town of Dharmsala his headquarters since fleeing from Tibet after a failed uprising against Chinese rule in 1959. India considers Tibet to be part of China, though it hosts the Tibetan exiles.
The Dalai Lama denies China’s claim that he is a separatist and says he only advocates substantial autonomy and protection of Tibet’s native Buddhist culture.
The Tibetan government-in-exile in India accuses China of denying the most fundamental human rights to people in Tibet and vigorously carrying out the extermination of the Tibetan identity.
The Tibetan Youth Congress, which organised the New Delhi protest march on Sunday, said that in 1959, the Chinese Communist regime perpetrated an occupation of Tibet, resulting in Tibetans rising in revolt.
“Since then the Chinese regime has resorted to brutal tactics resulting in the deaths of over a million Tibetans who peacefully protested against oppressive Chinese rule,” it said in a statement
