Austria: Tibetans organize rally demanding boycott of winter Olympics over human rights violations
Jan 21, 2022
Vienna [Austria], January 21 : A rally was organized by the Save Tibet organisation in Austria for boycott of the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics over human rights violations.
The event was supported by the Tibetan community in Austria and the Uyghur association in Austria. A group of 30-40 Tibetans and Uyghurs were present in the protest rally.
The participants carried placards during the protest that read, "Stop culture genocide in Tibet, Tibet belongs to Tibetans, #No Beijing 2022 #No Olympics Oath"
In the rally, Tibetan filmmaker Dhondup Wangchen, who was imprisoned in China for years, criticized Vienna for not taking part in the diplomatic boycott of the Beijing Olympics.
Dhondup said that in 2008 International Olympic Committee (IOC) illegally gave Olympics to China. Again IOC illegally gave Winter Olympics to China. China has no human rights, no language rights, no religion even basic human rights in Tibet.
Meanwhile, the Tibetan community in Austria performed a drama which showed how the Chinese Communist Party has committed atrocities in Tibet against the Tibetans.
The Chinese government won the right to host the 2008 Olympics with pledges to improve its human rights performance in line with Olympic ideals. However, the promises were never met, rather the human rights situation continued to deteriorate in Tibet.
Since becoming China's President in 2013 Xi Jinping has pursued an aggressive policy on Tibet and reports of human rights violations have repeatedly surfaced.
The 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing is scheduled to take place from next month.
The US, the UK, Australia, Canada and Lithuania have announced the diplomatic boycott of games.
