Tibetans in Ireland fear Tibet plight will worsen

FEARS THAT the situation in Tibet would worsen after the Beijing Olympics were expressed by members of the Tibetan community in Ireland yesterday.

About a dozen Tibetan exiles protested outside the Chinese embassy in Dublin ahead of the opening of the Games on Friday.

Draped in Tibetan flags, they sang the national anthem and chanted "we want a free Tibet".

They called on the Chinese government to stop its crackdown on Tibetan protesters and demanded that thousands of arrested protesters be released.

"The worst is still to come after the Olympics when attention of world moves away from China," Namgyal Damdul, chairman of the Tibetan Community in Ireland, said. "We fear the worst might happen to those in prisons and they might be given the death penalty," he said. "We are urging all governments around the world to press China to release all these prisoners."

Minister for Arts, Sport and Tourism Martin Cullen is in Beijing and is due to attend the Games on Friday. The group called on Mr Cullen to put pressure on the Chinese leadership regarding Tibet.

Last month a spokesman for the department said Mr Cullen would attend the opening ceremony on the basis that issues surrounding human rights and Tibet had improved and had reached resolution.

However, Mr Damdul said there is no resolution and that this statement did not match the facts.

Yesterday, Fine Gael spokesman on foreign affairs Billy Timmins said statements about a resolution "are inaccurate and almost no progress has been made between the Chinese government and the envoys of the Dalai Lama".

Goal chief executive John O'Shea said yesterday that Mr Cullen's attendance was "deplorable".

© 2008 The Irish Times

This article appears in the print edition of the Irish Times