Dolma Choephel under Medical Care, EP Intergroup Expresses Support
Dharamsala, 1 May: As the hunger strike in front of the UN building in New York today enters a month sympathy and solidarity continue to pour in from various sources but the hunger strikers still awaits UN’s assurances regarding their demands. Ms. Paula Dobriansky and Kasur Lodi Gyari, the US Special Coordinator for Tibet and His Holiness the Dalai Lama’s Special Envoy respectively, have visited the hunger strikers and urged them to call off the strike.
Ms. Dolma Choephel, however, had to be rushed to Bellevue hospital for Emergency Medical Service (EMS) after she lost consciousness yesterday, said a report sent by Kalsang Phunstok, the President of the TYC. The other two hunger strikers, however, continue ‘to be alert’.
Meanwhile, the European Parliament Intergroup for Tibet has expressed solidarity with the three hunger strikers.
” We urge the UN and the government of the People’s Republic of China to do more in seriously considering your demands. If they are serious about granting freedom and justice to the Tibetan people, they must support non-violent acts, such as that of your own. Indeed, the best way to both prevent and end wars and acts of terror is to support non-violent struggles “, Thomas Mann, President of the Intergroup, noted in a letter sent to the three hunger strikers.
Mr. Mann, in a separate letter addressed to Mr. Romano Prodi, President of the European Commission, said that the Chinese Premier’s visit to Brussels in May ‘provides a key opportunity for you to convey to China’s leaders the importance the European Union places on Sino-Tibetan dialogue’.
Mr. Mann has also requested the European Commission to utilise the visit of Premier Wen Jiabao to the EU capital to directly convey the EU’s policy commitment regarding Sino-Tibetan negations.