| Related content: |
 |
| Salt Lake City |
 |
 |
| GER |
12 |
16 |
7 |
35 |
 |
| USA |
10 |
13 |
11 |
34 |
|
| NOR |
11 |
7 |
6 |
24 |
|
| CAN |
6 |
3 |
8 |
17 |
|
| RUS |
6 |
6 |
4 |
16 |
|
| AUT |
2 |
4 |
10 |
16 |
|
| ITA |
4 |
4 |
4 |
12 |
|
| FRA |
4 |
5 |
2 |
11 |
|
| SUI |
3 |
2 |
6 |
11 |
|
| NED |
3 |
5 |
0 |
8 |
|
|
|
|
'Free Tibet Now' is the rallying cry
Falun Gong and other groups state their views at park
By Jerry Johnston
Deseret News staff writer
Chanting "Free Tibet Now" and "Shame on China," about 150 Tibetans and their supporters took to the streets of Salt Lake City Sunday morning.
Escorted by Salt Lake police officers on bicycles, the group strode up 300 South, went south on West Temple, then returned to Pioneer Park where the rally had begun.
Earlier, the fervor of the protesters was fueled by a spate of oratory at the park, including a rallying cry from University of Utah professor Ed Firmage.
"The time will come when we will dance hand-in-hand with the Dalai Lama into Beijing," Firmage said through a megaphone. "When Jesus began his ministry, he said, 'Change your mind!' That's what we say to the government of China. Change your mind!"
For the most part, the march played to an empty house. City streets were pretty much deserted.
"We probably shouldn't have done it on a Sunday when so many people in church," said Khondo Chazotsang of the Utah Tibetan Association. "But we didn't have a lot of options."
She also said the Dalai Lama's visit to Salt Lake City last year had created "overwhelming interest in him and a desire to know more about Tibetan issues."
Pioneer Park, a designated protest zone during the Olympics, took on the air of London's Hyde Park on Sunday as other groups arrived to express their sentiments. While the Tibetans chanted and carried placards on the northeast corner of the park, the Falun Gong contingent handed out videotapes, CDs and other high-tech promo materials at the southwest corner.
According to practitioners, Falun Gong is, at heart, a meditative approach to good health. Its emphasis on compassion, individual agency and freedom of expression, however, has put the group in the cross hairs of the Chinese government. According to Falun Gong spokesman Brad Carson, in fact, the principal health issue for the movement currently is to avoid being bruised by Chinese government soldiers and policemen.
"We're not a political movement, we're not a religion," said Roger Hsiao, a practitioner from Detroit. "We don't even have an organization. But there are 100 million of us in China, and the Chinese government won't give us justice or a place to express ourselves."
As he spoke, about three dozen Falun Gong faithful stood facing south in the park, doing peaceful meditative exercises.
"We're here to celebrate the Olympics, we're not here to attack the Chinese government," Carson said. "We just want people to know what's happening to us. There are more members of Falun Gong in China than there are members of the Communist Party."
Meanwhile, to the east, the Tibetan marchers returned to Pioneer Park for a candlelight vigil for Tibetans killed in the political tumult. And Tibetans leaders made no bones about having a political agenda.
"We want to link this march to the 2008 Olympics in Beijing," Chazotsang said. "We want Salt Lake City to know about the Tibetans in prison in China and request that China improve democracy if they are to host the Olympic Games."
The Tibetan rally included children in headbands, monks in robes and mountain tribal leaders in fur hats. The community plans to celebrate Losar — the Tibetan New Year — on Feb. 17 at the Indian Walk-in Center.
E-MAIL: jerjohn@desnews.com
|
|
February 11, 2002
|
