Two candlelight vigils in Dhasa

For two nights in a row, hundreds of people here in Dharamsala have gathered around dusk to show their support for the most recent protests in the Amdo region of Tibet. With monks leading the way chanting a prayer for compassion, the swelling crowd circled the central part of McLeod three times, before making its way to the tsuglakhang (main Temple).

On February 21, Chinese authorities clashed with hundreds of Tibetans gathered for Monlam, an annual prayer festival in Rebkong county [in Chinese, Tongren in Qinghai province]. The Chinese police ordered the festival stopped and sent in three truckloads of armed police. Tear gas was fired and about 200 Tibetans were detained (most of whom were monks). The detentions sparked a series of other protests in which Tibetans called for independence and prayed for the long life of His Holiness the Dalai Lama – both of which are serious offenses in Chinese occupied Tibet.

Interestingly, in 2006, Rebkong county was the site of giant bonfires of animal skins, after the Dalai Lama urged Tibetans to stop wearing traditional furs and protect endangered animals.


Standing in the crowd, I hummed along with the prayers I have heard so many times, lost in my own thoughts. A friend’s recent comment echoed through my ears: what happens inside Tibet encourages people in exile and what happens in exile also encourages those inside. The situation in Tibet restricts open communication about political issues, but I realized that the hundreds of people in which I found myself were in fact engaged in an intense form of communication with their brothers and sisters thousands of miles away. Standing here in solidarity, they were telling Tibetans inside to continue to resist Chinese occupation. It made me wonder what the next months would bring, how Tibetans inside would respond to March 10th and the beginning of our Return March to Tibet.

I yelled along with the passionate cries of “Free Tibet” until I was moved to tears. We have the freedom to stand here with our Tibetan flags and call for independence. But Tibetans inside Tibet had once again stood up against China, and put their own lives in danger. I prayed that they know how brave we think they are and that they will continue to resist.