Thursday, March 20, 2008

600 Attend Protest in Chicago and Daily Vigils Held in Madison

On March 18th, over 600 Tibetans and American supporters joined together to show their solidarity with the people of Tibet in downtown Chicago, Illinois. The March began at 10:30am at Water Tower Place and went through the city to the Chinese Consulate, where the protest continued through 5 pm.

6 Buses came from Minneapolis, MN, 4 from Madison, WI as well as numerous individuals from throughout the Midwest.

Towards 3:30pm, one Tibetan man from Chicago scaled the Consulate building and waved the Tibetan flag from the roof for about 2 minutes before two Chinese guards stopped him. They began to pull him and he showed some resistance, at which point one guard kicked him in the leg. This caused a passionate outcry from the closely observing crowd.

Many more media representatives were there then in previous protests in Chicago, and good press coverage was provided in several Chicago area newspapers and television stations.
Article in Chicago Sun-Times
Article in Chicago Tribune

In Madison, Wisconsin an ongoing vigil from morning until 9pm is being held every day at the Memorial Library Building downtown. Please join us!

View Larger Map

Also, Mr. Lobsang Tenzin, President of the Wisconsin Tibetan Association was interviewed on WORT 89.9 FM on March 19, 2008 about the heated situation in Tibet and our response in Madison.
Listen to the interview here (6 minutes)