65th Tibetan National Uprising Day: Protestors rally in Dharamshala, condemns China’s mass arrest of Tibetans and hydropower dam project

Hundreds of Tibetan people gathered in Dharamshala today to stage protest against the ongoing occupation of Tibet and bringing attention to the mass arrests of over 1000 Tibetans, including monks, as they were protesting against the hydropower dam project on the Drichu river in eastern Tibet.

On 10th March every year Tibetan communities across Dharamshala demonstrate a protest march to honour and support the resistance to China’s occupation of Tibet that continues to this day. Today was the Sixty-Fifth Anniversary of Tibetan National Uprising Day.

“Today’s protest is organised to remember out Tibetan brothers and sisters who lost their life in 1959 during Tibetan uprising on 10th of March. We also wanted to highlight the recent mass arrest by the Chinese government in Tibet as they want to relocate Tibetan communities to build the hydropower dam project on Drichu river,” said Kalsang Dolma, the general secretary of Tibetan Women’s Association, Dharamshala.

On 24th February 2024, Chinese authorities arrested more than 1000 Tibetans, including Buddhist monks for protesting against a dam project that is supposed to be built after demolishing six monasteries and forcibly relocating residents from two villages.

The arrest followed the non-violent protest that began on 14th February across Eastern Tibet’s Kham region, denouncing the construction of the hydropower dam on the Drichu River. According to reports, around 300 Tibetans demonstrated at the Dege County Hall against the proposed Chinees hydropower project construction and asking for withdrawal of relocation from the vicinity.

Drichu river, which is also known as the Jinsha River, holds significant cultural and ecological importance to the Tibetan people. The river meanders through Qinghai, Sichuan, and Yunnan in western China.

A video, disseminated by Radio Free Asia, showed monks protesting before visiting Chinese officials, urging them to stop the construction of the dam, as stated in a communication from the International Tibet Network (ITN).

Today, hundreds of Tibetan people started the march from Dalai Lama temple in Mcleadganj towards Kacheri Chowk in the hilly town of Himachal Pradesh.

Talking about the impact of the protest, Kalsang Dolma said, “Because of this protest, the whole world now knows about Tibetan struggle and our fight. It has got us domestic support as well as at international solidarity”. “We are always thankful to India because they facilitated us for the state in India,” she added.

The protest gathering saw a large participation from school and college students while many tourists including foreigners also marked their presence.

On 17th March, 1959, His Holiness the Dalai Lama left Tibet to escape into exile in India along with ten thousand of Tibetans. His Holiness entered India on 31st March, 1959 and later settled in Dharamshala in April 1960 where he established the Central Tibetan Administration (CTA).

As Tibetan Uprising Day approaches on 10th March, the call to action resonates louder than ever. It is a day not only to demand justice for the unjustly detained Tibetans but also to advocate for the reunification of Tibetan families separated by China’s colonial boarding school system. Above all, it stands as a poignant reminder of Tibet’s enduring struggle against occupation, a struggle fueled by the indomitable spirit of its people.

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