On Friday, a group of Tibetans in Delhi staged protests in front of the Chinese embassy against the Beijing Winter Olympics that begins later today. ‘Boycott, boycott Beijing Olympics’, the protesters cried as they stepped on the Chinese flags with full force and burned them.
The protesters blocked the main road leading to Delhi’s Diplomatic enclave where the Chinese embassy is located. The Delhi Police is said to have detained the protesters after they broke the perimeter while they demanded ‘freedom for all’ and yelled ‘Boycott Beijing Olympics’.
This is after around 500 Tibetans marched outside the International Olympic Committee headquarters to protest against Beijing hosting the Games. The activists were seen dragging the Chinese flags on their skis.
According to the reports, Tibetans across the globe are demonstrating protests against China demanding freedom and are of opinion that the Chinese are mass murderers and dictators. The protesters at IOC HQ also raised the slogans of ‘Boycott Beijing Winter Olympics’, ‘Stop human rights violations in Tibet’ and called Bejing Winter Olympics a ‘Game of shame’.
The demonstrators also chanted ‘No rights, no Games’ and ‘Beijing Olympics: genocide Games’ as they climbed up on the roof of IOC entrance read ‘No Beijing 2022’.
The Tibetan protest in Delhi also comes after India boycotted the opening ceremony of the Winter Olympics in Beijing as China chose Qi Fabao as torchbearer, a soldier who fought in Ladakh’s Galwan Valley against the Indian troops in 2020. MEA Spokesperson Arindam Bagchi regretted that the Chinese side had chosen to politicize an event like the Olympics.
“India will not be attending the opening nor the closing ceremony of the Beijing 22 Winter Olympics”, he said in a media briefing yesterday. It is pertinent to note that Qi Fabao is a regiment commander in the PLA who sustained head injury during the fighting. China has picked him up as one of the 1,200 torchbearers in the Games terming him as a ‘hero’.
The United States has also asserted that it stands with India against Chinese aggression for the Beijing Winter Olympics. State Department spokesperson Ned Price on Friday said, “When it comes to the India-China border situation, we continue to support direct dialogue and a peaceful resolution of the disputes”.
“We’ve previously voiced our concerns on Beijing’s pattern of ongoing attempts to intimidate its neighbors. We stand with friends, we stand with partners & allies, to advance our shared prosperity, security, & values in the Indo-Pacific”, he added further.
The 2022 Games are subject to various concerns and controversies as well as diplomatic boycotts due to the ongoing Uyghur genocide and human rights abuses in China. Reports mention that the US, UK and Canada have already declared a diplomatic boycott of the Games, along with Australia, Lithuania, Kosovo, Belgium, Denmark and Estonia.