Canada: Regional Tibetan Youth Congress VP holds 10-day march for free Tibet

Sunny Sonam, the vice president of the Regional Tibetan Youth Congress in Canada, recently embarked on a 10-day march to protest against China's occupation of Tibet, reported TAG TV.

Walking for almost 180 km, Sonam went through the Canadian cities of St Catherine, Winina, Grimsby, Stoney Creek, Hamilton, Burlington, Oakville, Mississauga and Toronto, calling for a free Tibet and Hong Kong and an end to Chinese occupation.

Sonam started his march from the Rainbow Bridge at the US-Canada border to the Chinese consulate, TAG TV reported.

While addressing a gathering of some people, he said: "I have walked for almost 170-180 km. The reason why I walked is for our brothers and sisters who are still struggling inside Tibet. (It's the) same thing in Hong Kong, same thing with Uzbekistan. So, we should never forget that our brothers and sisters are still suffering over there."

He and the other protesters also raised slogans of 'Free Tibet! China out!" and "Free Hong Kong!"

The Chinese government occupied Tibet in 1950 and has ever since tried to control the region, destroying 98 per cent of the monasteries and nunneries.

China is using the same suppression tactics against Tibet that it has been using against Uyghurs and other ethnic minorities in Xinjiang, with about 500,000 Tibetans are now being held in labour camps.

Many experts have highlighted that the Chinese Communist Party and its assimilationist policies and programs in Tibet have threatened the Tibetan history, heritage, culture, and identity for the past 70 years.

According to Freedom House, a non-governmental organisation (NGO), Tibet is now ranked as the least-free country in the world, tied with Syria. Most Buddhist places across the country are banned, their flags torn down and nuns and monks locked up in camps as China tries to wipe out this millennia-old culture.

Recently, several countries held protests on the 26th anniversary of the enforced disappearance of Tibet's 11th Panchen Lama Gedhun Choekyi Nyima and accused Beijing of meddling with the centuries-old religious tradition of reincarnation in Tibetan Buddhism.

( With inputs from ANI )