- Title: Pro-Tibetan activists held for protesting Xi's Swiss visit
- Date: 15th January 2017
- Summary: BERN, SWITZERLAND (JANUARY 15, 2017) (REUTERS) ACTIVISTS HOLDING TIBETAN FLAGS AND BANNER READING (English) "FREE TIBET" / SWISS PARLIAMENT IN BACKGROUND ACTIVIST HOLDING SIGN READING (English) "DON'T DEAL WITH KILLERS" ACTIVISTS HOLDING TIBETAN FLAG AND SIGN READING (English) "DON'T DEAL WITH KILLERS" POLICE / ACTIVISTS HOLDING BANNER READING (English) "FREE TIBET" ACTIVISTS HOLDING BANNER AND SHOUTING "HUMAN RIGHTS IN TIBET", "FREE TIBET" POSTER WITH WORDS READING (English) "DON'T DEAL WITH KILLERS" ACTIVISTS HOLDING BOARDS AND SIGNS READING (English) "DON'T DEAL WITH KILLERS" POLICE WATCHING / SWISS PARLIAMENT IN THE BACKGROUND MEMBERS OF THE CHINESE COMMUNITY HOLDING CHINESE FLAGS AND LOOKING AT THE PROTEST (SOUNDBITE) (English) TIBETAN YOUTH ASSOCIATION IN EUROPE'S MEMBER, MIGMAR DHAKYEL, SAYING: "The situation inside Tibet is getting worse day by day. Our people are being oppressed, our people are being imprisoned, Tibetans are being killed by the Chinese government, and it is not possible that Switzerland, and as Swiss citizens, we are really concerned how our government, our own government treats us, doesn't permit us to demonstrate and does trade with such a dictatorship as China. So we are here to talk about human rights, we are here to talk about Tibet." VARIOUS OF ACTIVISTS BEING PUSHED AWAY BY SWISS POLICE VARIOUS OF POLICE TRYING TO CONTAIN SWISS-TIBETAN ACTIVISTS IN A CLOSED AREA VARIOUS OF SWISS-TIBETAN ACTIVISTS BEING DETAINED BY THE POLICE AND PUT INTO A POLICE BUS ACTIVISTS SEEN IN THE BUS AS IT IS LEAVING BUS LEAVING FOR POLICE STATION
- Embargoed: 29th January 2017 16:35
- Keywords: Tibetan activists Xi Jinping anti-China protest Bern Switzerland
- Location: BERN, SWITZERLAND
- City: BERN, SWITZERLAND
- Country: Switzerland
- Topics: Conflicts/War/Peace
- Reuters ID: LVA0015Z6Y6O7
- Aspect Ratio: 16:9
- Story Text: Swiss police said it had detained more than two dozen pro-Tibetans activists protesting against the state visit of Chinese President Xi Jinping to Switzerland on Sunday (January 15).
Swiss authorities had authorised a protest by pro-Tibetan groups in the Swiss capital on Sunday morning, with the condition it must end before Xi arrived in the city in the afternoon. Police were trying to prevent the kind of confrontation that marked the previous visit by a Chinese president 18 years ago, when demonstrators took roofs overlooking the Swiss Parliament with banners demanding "Free Tibet".
Switzerland's 6,500-strong Tibetan community, among Europe's largest, had agreed to the conditions, staging a peaceful protest about three blocks away from parliament. But the Tibetan Youth Association Europe wanted to organise a protest in the afternoon.
Amnesty International had also raised concerns that the Swiss were caving in to Chinese pressure, allowing a demonstration away from the view of the Chinese delegation.
After a failed uprising against the Chinese rule nearly six decades ago, tens of thousands of Tibetans including spiritual leader the Dalai Lama fled into exile in neighbouring India and other countries.
Beijing vigorously condemns foreign leaders who meet the "splittist" Dalai Lama.
Trips abroad by Chinese leaders are often met with pro-Tibet protests, attempts by the police to keep them away from the visiting delegation and pro-China counter-protests. - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
- Copyright Notice: (c) Copyright Thomson Reuters 2017. Open For Restrictions - http://about.reuters.com/fulllegal.asp
- Usage Terms/Restrictions: None