Italy: A celebration to commemorate the 64th anniversary of the Tibetan national uprising was held in Rome. Around this time, almost a thousand Tibetans and pro-Tibetans travelled to Rome from all over Europe.
Thinlay Chukki, the Dalai Lama’s ambassador to the Tibet Bureau in Geneva, De Priamo Andrea, and French senator Elsa Joseph were among those there. Thupten Gyatso, a member of the Tibetan Parliament in Exile, was also there.
The participants marched from Largo Corrado Ricci to Piazza Della Madonna di Loreto while waving Tibetan flags. In their statements, Tibetan and European officials criticised China’s illegitimate occupation of Tibet and ongoing violations of human rights there.
The Italian Parliamentary Intergroup for Tibet had its official launch on March 9 at the Italian Senate Hall. The Intergroup was established by Senator De Priamo Andrea, who served as its coordinator, Senator Terzi di Sant’Agata Giulio, Representative Ilenia Malavasi, Senator Domenica Spinelli, and former Intergroup coordinator Luciano Nobili.
Thupten Gyatso, a member of the Tibetan Parliament in Exile, deputy speaker Dolma Tsering Teykhang, Thinlay Chukki of the Tibet Bureau Geneva, Claudio Cardelli of the Italia Tibet Association, and Tseten Bergamo of the Tibetan Community of Italy were also in attendance.
At a joint press conference conducted in the Senate, Europe Stands with Tibet’s March 10 rally and the intergroup’s launch were both announced. During the press conference, Senator De Priamo Andrea, the Intergroup Coordinator, pledged to work towards getting important resolutions on Tibet passed in the Italian parliament and to draw attention to the situation in Tibet. The Intergroup and Senator Teryi di Sant’Agata Giulio.
Malavasi Ilenia and Luciano Nobili, a former intergroup coordinator, both reiterated and talked extensively about their commitment to defending human rights in Tibet under the control of the Chinese government.
Representative Thinlay Chukki welcomed the legislators and congratulated them on the successful formation of the Italian Parliamentary Intergroup for Tibet.
The deputy speaker of the exiled Tibetan Parliament, Dolma Tsering Teykhang, raised serious issues regarding the colonial-style boarding schools in Tibet where over a million Tibetan youngsters were being forcibly subsumed into Chinese culture.
At the meeting, Thupten Gyatso gave a speech in which he stated that Tibet has historically been a sovereign state and that the invasion and occupation of Tibet today represent an ongoing international conflict. Senators in the Spanish parliament have created a group called Tibet Solidarity.
