2009-03-27 Demonstration at Chinese Embassy, London | Photo 05

27 March 2009. On the eve of “Serfs Emancipation Day”, a new public holiday that the Chinese government has imposed on the Tibetan people, ex-political prisoner, Palden Gyatso, was joined by members of the UK Tibetan community in a demonstration outside the Chinese embassy in London.

Palden Gyatso, witness to China’s brutal crackdown in Tibet following the Tibetan people’s uprising in 1959 said, “We are remembering this day not as the day when Tibet was liberated, but imprisoned instead. Before China’s Red Army marched into Tibet, we enjoyed freedom of speech, freedom of movement and freedom of religion. But since the invasion, repressive surveillance and restrictions were imposed.”

Palden Gyatso's Serfs Emancipation Day message: www.youtube.com/watch?v=sQdbQVt0LB4&feature=channel_pagewww.tibetsociety.com