March 10 2018

Date: Saturday, March 10, 2018 - 8:00am to 8:00pm

Location: Berkeley and San Francisco

Contacts: Tenzing Dolma 510-254-1420 (Students for a Free Tibet)

Tenzin Dolma 510-502-1180 (SF Tibetan Youth Congress)

Giovanni Vassallo 415-706-3507 (Bay Area Friends of Tibet)

San Francisco Team Tibet

Joins Global Commemoration of Tibetan National Uprising

WHAT: On March 10, 2018 hundreds of Tibetans and Tibet supporters in the San Francisco Bay Area will join thousands of people around the world in the annual global commemoration of the 59th anniversary of the Tibetan National Uprising.

WHEN/WHERE:

8:30 AM Berkeley City Hall 2180 Milvia St., Berkeley

10:00 AM San Francisco City Hall 1 Dr. Carlton B. Goodlett Place, San Francisco

12:00 PM March to Chinese Consulate

1 PM Chinese Consulate 1450 Laguna St., San Francisco

2:15 PM March from Consulate to SF Downtown, to Union Square, SF

5:00 PM Union Square Speeches, Performances, Concert

WHY? It is 59 years since hundreds of thousands of Tibetans rose up and demanded an end to China’s illegal invasion and occupation of their country. China’s use of extreme force to quell these protests compelled His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama to escape to India, where he has lived in exile ever since. Today, China is stepping up its efforts to punish Tibetans in Tibet for expressing loyalty to His Holiness the Dalai Lama - a devotion that has not wavered despite the half century that has passed.

The human rights situation in Tibet has declined dramatically in recent years with the fundamental rights to freedom of expression, peaceful assembly, religion, and privacy highly restricted. Since the Chinese occupation in 1959, more than one million Tibetans have been killed. To fly a Tibetan flag, send an email abroad, or say the phrase "human rights," is cause for imprisonment and torture. 99% of all Tibetan monasteries have been closed. Media is greatly restricted and near 150 Tibetans burned themselves alive since 2009 to protest conditions in Tibet under Chinese government rule.

This March 10, tens of thousands of Tibetans and Tibet supporters will be taking to the streets across the globe.

BACKGROUND: San Francisco Team Tibet consists of Tibetan Association of Northern California (tanc.org), Bay Area Friends of Tibet (friends-of-tibet.org), San Francisco Regional Youth Congress (sfrtyc.org), Students for a Free Tibet – West (https://www.facebook.com/SFTWest/)