Mumbai, Nov 23: About 200 Tibetans on Thursday began a day-long hunger strike at Azad Maidan in south Mumbai to protest Chinese President Hu Jintao`s visit. Some protesters tried to self immolate. Hu arrived in the city on Wednesday and is scheduled to attend a few official functions before leaving for Islamabad.
"Hu Jintao, as head of Tibetan Autonomous Region in 1989, imposed martial law in Tibet and ordered violent crackdown on peaceful demonstrators, killing thousands of Tibetans", Phuntok, a member of the agitating group, told reporters.
The demonstration has been organised by the `Tibetan Sweater Sellers` Union of Maharashtra and Gujarat` and `Friends of Tibet` organisations. The protestors shouted slogans like `Free Tibet` and `End oppression in Tibet`.
"Hu is world`s leading autocrat and leads the regime responsible for genocide of over 75 million people", he claimed.
"Since China`s illegal and forcible occupation of Tibet in 1950, over 1.3 million Tibetans have been massacred," Phuntok said.
"The cold-blooded killing of Tibetan refugees fleeing Tibet at Nangpa Pass on the Tibet-Nepal border by Chinese security forces on September 30, is an indicator of the appalling human rights situation in Tibet", he said.
Hu has a hectic schedule in the country`s financial hub today, including attending a Chinese-Indian trade and investment summit, officials said.
He will meet sisters of doctor Dwarkadas Kotnis, who treated Chinese soldiers during the Japanese invasion of that country in the 1940s, at the hotel in the morning. He will also meet officials of the Chinese Consulate General in Mumbai.
Bureau Report
