17 November, Berlin: “There is no space for any form of protest in Tibet,” said Mr. Penpa Tsering, the Speaker of the Tibetan Parliament during the Parliamentary delegations’ last program today.
The Tibetan Community in Berlin and Tibet Initiative Deutschland hosted a meeting with their members at the House of Democracy and Human Rights in Berlin.
In response to a question about the present situation in Tibet, the Speaker of the Tibetan Parliament said, “60 years of repression in Tibet by the Chinese authorities will not crush the hopes and aspirations of the Tibetan people”.
Mr. Penpa Tsering reiterated the Tibetan Parliament in Exile’s commitment to the Middle Way Approach and said, “We don’t encourage self-immolation.”
At the invitation of International Campaign for Tibet, a five-member Tibetan Parliamentary delegation has been in Berlin since 12 November.
The Tibetan Parliamentarians visited to the Stasi Memorial in Berlin – East Germany’s secret police prison on Thursday morning.
On arrival at the memorial Dr. Hubertus Kanbae, the Director and
Mr. Helmuth Frauendorfer, Vice-Director said that it was an honour to meet the Tibetan delegation.
“Let me give you some inspiration and hope. 25 years ago, this prison was full of prisoners. Today, it is free,” said the director. He expressed his concern about the human rights situation in Tibet and the gross violation of human rights by the Chinese authorities.
Mr. Penpa Tsering briefed them about the present the situation in Tibet, the Middle Way Approach and Tibetan people’s non-violence struggle.
“We are reaching out to the Chinese people to explain the Middle Way Approach and the human rights violations in Tibet,” he said. “It is a difficult task, but we are committed to this”.
During ICT Deutschland’s Snowlion Media Award held on 16 November, Mr. Liao Yiwo, a dissent Chinese writer who escaped to Germany in 2011 said, “The Chinese repression of the Tibetan people has been going on for a long time and this has lead to the self-immolations in Tibet.”
Ms. Kate Saunders, ICT’s Communication Director said that since 2008, the political landscape of Tibet has changed following the 2008 uprising.
She said the subsequent crack down by the Chinese authorities on sharing of information in Tibet, stricter border control, putting indirect pressure on exile Tibetans via their relatives in Tibet and self-immolations of more than 120 Tibetans has made information gathering more challenging.
During the Tibetan Parliamentarians stay in Berlin, they also visited the Holocaust Memorial and the Berlin Wall memorial.
This evening they left for London, the last leg of their five-nation tour.
