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Tibetans rally against Chinese leader at G20

AFP

A group of Free Tibet protesters march through the streets near the site of the G-20 Summit on 24 September 2009 in downtown Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. World leaders will discuss promoting global economic growth as they gather for the two-day G-20 summit at Pittsburgh’s convention centre on 24-25 September.Jeff Swensen/Getty Images/US

Some 200 pro-Tibet activists took to the streets of Pittsburgh on Thursday to demand China improve human rights as President Hu Jintao arrived for the Group of 20 economic summit.

The activists waved Tibetan and US flags in central Pittsburgh in a peaceful demonstration that was separate from a nearby rally by black-clad anarchists, who were dispelled by police pepper spray.

“We want to take the opportunity of Chinese President Hu Jintao arriving here today for the G20 to ask world leaders to press him to improve human rights in Tibet,” Ngawang Tashi, president of the Regional Tibetan Youth Congress of New York and New Jersey, told AFP.

Fellow protester Pema Gyalpo said that the demonstration sought to denounce “China’s illegal occupation” of Tibet.

“President Hu Jintao is a murderer, not a dignitary who deserved the respect of the world. He is not welcome in America, the land of liberty,” Gyalpo said.

China sent troops into Tibet in 1950 and last year clamped down on protests. China has also ramped up pressures on other nations not to associate with Tibet’s exiled spiritual leader, the Dalai Lama.

Under Chinese pressure, US President Barack Obama has not plans to meet with the Nobel Peace laureate when he visits Washington next month.

Tibetan campaigners say they hope Obama will meet with the Dalai Lama by the end of the year after he pays his first presidential trip to China.

Obama met Hu on Tuesday on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly in New York and pledged to work to build broad relations between the United States and China, the world’s biggest developed and developing economies.

Copyright © 2009 AFP

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