PRESS RELEASE **Photo Opportunity
For Immediate Release
Februrary 17, 2010

Contacts:
Tenzin Wangmo Shakya, 510-682-9024; Yangchen Lhamo, 415-997-3212

BAY AREA TIBETANS JOIN TOGETHER IN SUPPORT OF THE MEETING BETWEEN HIS HOLINESS THE DALAI LAMA AND PRESIDENT OBAMA!

Berkeley–Bay Area Tibetans and supporters will join an international day of action on Wednesday and Thursday of this week - calling on President Obama to take advantage of the meeting with His Holiness the Dalai Lama and most importantly listen to what he has to say. The focus will be on thanking the Obama administration for arranging this meeting, despite all the multiple threats from China warning it would harm bilateral Relations.

The historic meeting comes just days after the start of the Tibetan lunar new year and amidst reports of fresh protests in Tibet. Sources in Ngaba, in eastern Tibet, report that on Sunday, February 14th, the first day of Losar, more than 400 Tibetan monks and laypeople sat down in the main town square and chanted prayers of mourning for the Tibetans killed in the 2008 Uprising. Chinese security forces surrounded them and cut off their communications.

“His Holiness the Dalai Lama will meet with President Obama this Thursday, February 18th, at the White House – their first meeting since President Obama took office. President Obama reads 10 messages from the public each day and we want to make sure this week, he reads about Tibet” said Tsering Dorjee, President of the San Francisco SF Regional Tibetan Youth Congress and an executive member SF Team Tibet.

“As Tibetans in Ngaba and all over Tibet continue their courageous resistance to Chinese rule, now is the time for our leaders to take bold and new approaches to securing a negotiated resolution for Tibet” said Yangchen Lhamo, board member of Student for a Free Tibet.

Local Tibetans and supporters will hold a candlelight vigil and rally in downtown Berkeley to mourn the Tibetans who passed away in the recent years which resulted in the cancelation of the Tibetan New Years celebrations this year by majority of the Tibetans world wide. (New Years Celebrations)

Activities will include chanting and traditional prayers with speeches from community leaders of the Tibetan movement in exile.

San Francisco Team Tibet is a coalition of Bay Area organizations dedicated to promoting the Tibetan people's struggle for freedom and human rights.
 

www.sfrtyc.org/ www.friends-of-tibet.org / www.studentsforafreetibet.org/ www.tanc.org/ www.c100tibet.org/

Who: Tibetans and supporters in support of the meeting taking place between His Holiness the Dalai Lama and President Obama

What: Candlelight vigil and rally, including speeches by SF TEAM TIBET

Where: Downtown Berkeley BART station

When: 7:00-9:00PM, Wednesday, February 17, 2010

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