Tibetans in Canberra protest against Beijing Olympics.

Australia: On 4 February 2022, the day of the Opening ceremony of the Beijing Winter Olympics, cities across the world held Global day of action protests to boycott the Games.

In Canberra, Tibetans and Tibet supporters held a protest in front of the Chinese embassy, to highlight the human rights abuses committed by the Chinese Community Party (CCP) against Tibetans, Uyghurs, Hong Kongers, Taiwanese, Falun Gong practitioners and Chinese citizens.

The CCP has been under increased scrutiny about its human rights track record since it became the host of the 2022 Winter Olympics. Despite the global attention, the CPP continues its atrocities against the Tibetans in Tibet, denying them the right to learn their own language and forcing Tibetan children into boarding schools where they are indoctrinated with CCP propaganda and taught only in Chinese.

Religious freedom is still suppressed in Tibet, where Tibetan Buddhist teachings and traditions are manipulated to align with the CCP’s ideologies. “On 22 December 2021, the CCP demolished a 30-foot tall Maitreya Buddha statue in Drakgocounty, Kham region of Tibet”, stated Ms Kelsang Dolkar, Media Officer of the ACT Tibetan Community, “and just last month, the CCP took down another Buddha statue and burned down prayer flags. Suppressive crackdowns are still happeningin Tibet while the CCP tries to use the Winter Olympics to sportswash their human rights abuses.”

While many governments such as Australia, USA and UK have announced a diplomatic boycott of the Beijing Winter Olympics, as individuals, Tibetans and Tibet supporters in Canberra have announced that they will be boycotting these “Genocide Games”by not watching any 2022 Winter Olympics coverage.

Tibetans display #I Will Not Watch# to boycott Beijing Olympics.

–Reported by Kalsang Tsering, President-ACT Tibetan Community Association