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Tibetan bike rally protests Beijing Olympics

By Joshua Philipp

NEW YORK CITY, USA—FREE TIBET: Wearing T-shirts protesting the Beijing Olympics, activists took to the streets on a bike rally through Manhattan before heading to a protest in front of the Chinese Embassy.Epoch Times/Joshua Philipp/USA

Each biker wore a shirt in protest of the Beijing Olympics, reading, “Beijing Olympics Genocide Olympics” with “Free Tibet” written across the back. As a part of ongoing protests, Tibetans have gathered in front of the Chinese Consulate in New York with similar protests happening around the world each day.

Tsering Palden from the Tibetan Youth Congress of New York and New Jersey explained the situation in Tibet, mentioning that behind the show of the Olympics, the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) has been intensifying its persecution on groups throughout China.

“In Tibet, in the name of security for the Olympics, they are cracking down on the Tibetan people,” said Palden. “All of the Tibetans are virtually under house arrest. They can’t move around freely.”

“All of the monks and nuns are locked up in the monasteries and they can’t come out because China feels that if they let these people loose, they’re going to rise up against the Communists and make them embarrassed during the Olympics,” said Palden.

Setting off, the bikers split into groups ranging between ten to fifteen people, making their way through the streets of Manhattan with fliers about the CCP’s persecution amidst the Olympics in hand. Palden said that the bike rally was being held to, ”... create awareness in the City of the oppression and the atrocities that the communist regime is committing in Tibet and to tell the world that the Beijing Olympics are genocide Olympics,” Palden said.

Tibetan native and one of the volunteers for the bike crusade, Tsewang Hendechen expressed his hope to help people to better understand the situation in China. “We just want to bring some awareness to the Tibetan situation, such as how China is killing Tibetans in Tibet,” said Hendechen.

“I haven’t experienced anything first hand, but I hear from my parents and grandparents what the Chinese did in Tibet, and what they’re still doing,” said Hendechen. “The situation is that the Tibetans aren’t happy in Tibet.”

Copyright © 2008 The Epoch Times

Published in The Epoch Times