MEDIA RELEASE

For Immediate Release
June 20, 2006

Contact:    Ngawang Woeber, Gu Chu Sum (mobile: +91 9418-102-483)
Tenzin Choedon, Students for a Free Tibet India (mobile: +91 9816-479-812)
Tenzin Tsundue, Friend of Tibet India (in Germany +49 176-282-741-50)
Lhadon Tethong, Students for a Free Tibet HQ (in Germany +49 176-282-741-50)


Dharamsala - Tibetans and their supporters will hold global protests on July 1st to denounce the launch of the first railway connecting China and Tibet. The "Reject the Railway" campaign was announced today by Gu Chu Sum (an association of former Tibetan political prisoners), Friends of Tibet India and Students for a Free Tibet to voice opposition to China's Tibet railway and the negative effects it will have on the Tibetan people, their culture and the environment. Protests are planned at Chinese embassies and consulates in major cities around the world, including Ottawa, New York, London and Dharamsala, India. Tibetans in exile will wear black armbands to symbolize their resistance to the railway and China's ongoing occupation of Tibet and to show their solidarity with Tibetans suffering under Chinese rule.

"We are wearing these black arm bands to show solidarity with our Tibetan brothers and sisters inside Tibet who have suffered for so long under Chinese occupation," said Ngawang Woeber, President of Gu Chu Sum and ex-political prisoner from Tibet. "This railway will have devastating consequences for our people as Beijing tries to overwhelm our population, dilute our culture and exploit our land."

Beijing is planning a high profile launch of the railway on July 1st and claims it will bring economic development and prosperity to the impoverished Tibetan region. Tibetans fear the railway will increase environmental pressure on Tibet’s high-altitude ecosystem, bolster China's military strength in the region, and facilitate the entry of large numbers of Chinese settlers into Tibet, further marginalizing Tibetans socially and economically. Many Tibetans see the railway as the final phase in China's strategy to wipe out Tibetan identity and culture. The Chinese government has openly stated that the railway is a political project intended to consolidate their control in the region.

"Through our protests around the world we are showing China that Tibetans reject this railway just as we reject their illegitimate rule in Tibet," said Tenzin Choedon, Program Coordinator for Students for a Free Tibet India. "China may have completed the railway but our struggle is not over. We will continue to fight the illegal Chinese occupation of our nation."

Tibetan shopkeepers and restaurants in Dharamsala, home to His Holiness the Dalai Lama and the Tibetan Government in Exile, will temporarily close their businesses on July 1st in solidarity with the "Reject the Railway" campaign.

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