Approximately 2,000 people, mainly members of the Tibetan community in France, gathered in Paris on Sunday to denounce the visit of the Chinese dictator, Xi Jinping, to France. €žÅ£land of human rights†.
“Stop the threat against Taiwan, stop the repression in Hong Kong, stop the support for Putin, stop the interference in France,” the participants wrote on a banner held in Republic Square, a traditional place of demonstration in the French capital.
“Dictator Xi Jinping, the time has passed” and “Chinese totalitarianism,” were the placards carried by Tibetans from France or European countries such as Belgium.
Hundreds of protesters raised the Tibetan flag. In numerous lines, the crowd chanted: “France, the country of human rights”, “Long live free Tibet” or “Free Tibet”. In total, 2,000 people demonstrated, according to the Paris police headquarters.
Xi Jinping “is a dictator who wants to destroy Tibetan tradition and culture,” Karma Thinlay, president of the Tibetan community in France, told AFP at a time when the Chinese dictator had just he had arrived in Paris, Sunday afternoon, for a two-day visit.
“In China, there is no freedom of expression, there is no freedom,” he continued. “France is a country of human rights and freedom, this is not compatible with his coming to France,” added Thinlay.
French President Emmanuel Macron plans to back trade “reciprocity” and the search for a solution to the war in Ukraine in the face of Xi Jingpin, who continues to show his support for Russia.
“Emmanuel Macron must know that you can’t do business quietly, with confidence with China, because China is a country where all rights are violated,” Thinlay continued.
“There is more to life than the economy,” he emphasized, expressing his hope that the French president will take this opportunity to talk about the situation in Tibet with the aim of finding €žo peaceful solution†.
Over the centuries, Tibet has alternated between periods of independence and control by China. The regime in Beijing took over after an intervention by the Chinese Communist Army in October 1950. The exiled Dalai Lama has always refused to recognize that Tibet is historically part of China, as he demands the Beijing regime.
Editor: Adrian Dumitru
