KATHMANDU: Five Americans expelled from China after staging an illegal
protest at Mount Everest base camp in Tibet vowed on Saturday to step
up their campaign for a “free Tibet.”
China
has lodged an official protest with the United States over Wednesday’s
protest, in which the Americans called for Tibetan independence and
voiced outrage at the 2008 Olympic torch passing through the Himalayan
region.
“There are people all over the world who are Tibet
supporters and this is just the first of a cascading waterfall of
actions,” said Shannon Service, one of the five detained and questioned
for two days before being kicked out Friday. At Wednesday’s protest,
the Americans unfurled banners demanding a “free Tibet” and sang the
anthem of the Tibetan government-in-exile before the Chinese detained
them, said protestor Tenzin Dorjee, an American of Tibetan origin.
The
protest came a day before the Beijing Olympic Games organisers formally
announced plans to bring the Olympic torch to the top of the world’s
highest peak as part of a relay that also takes in the Tibetan capital
Lhasa. The five were questioned for hours and made to sign a document
apologising for their actions, before being expelled into neighbouring
Nepal Friday, said the activists from the US-based Students for a Free
Tibet.
“We were told we had endangered the security of China,” said Kirsten Westby, another protester.
After
questioning the five were paraded in front of Chinese state-run media,
then taken in a large vehicle convoy to Nepal’s border with
Chinese-controlled Tibet. “It was a very frightening and confusing
experience, and only a glimpse into what the Chinese would do to a
local Tibetan,” said Service.
Beijing has lodged a protest with
the United States over the incident and demanded that Washington
prevent similar events in the future.
“Tibet is an inseparable
part of China and the Chinese government and people will never tolerate
any activity aimed at splitting China,” China’s foreign ministry said
Friday.
The activist group would continue to stage protests both
inside and outside China in the run-up to the 2008 Games, group
director Lhadon Tethong said.
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