PRO-Tibetan demonstrators hurled eggs and water bottles at China’s consulate in Melbourne today in protest against China’s rule.
More than 100 Tibetans and their supporters began demonstrating outside the consulate, in leafy Toorak in Melbourne’s east, at 10am (AEDT), following a similar event outside Chinese consular offices in Sydney yesterday.
What began as a peaceful affair turned rowdy as a handful of demonstrators repeatedly surged towards the consulate’s gates, before being pushed back by federal, Victorian and mounted police officers. At one point, a car driven by an unidentified Chinese man was pelted with eggs and battered with flagpoles as it swept into the consulate compound.
A female protester who sneaked past the police line and followed the car inside was chased by police and frogmarched back outside before being cautioned.
Australia Tibet Council campaigns coordinator Simon Bradshaw said that despite the Tibetans’ proud history of non-violence and peaceful dissent, the protesters were releasing decades of pent-up frustration at China’s occupation of their homeland.
“One of the frustrating things for the Tibetans at the moment is that the dialogue process between Tibet and China has stalled, so there’s a lot of frustration around, here in Melbourne, in Sydney yesterday, in Tibet and around the world,” Mr Bradshaw told AAP.
“Everyone’s now aware of the way things have escalated in Lhasa. I think it’s made it very clear that China’s rule in Tibet isn’t working and there’s a need more than ever for them to engage in constructive dialogue with the Tibetan government in exile.”
The demonstrations in Melbourne and Sydney follow deadly clashes on Friday between Chinese authorities and protesters in the Tibetan capital Lhasa which, Tibet’s exiled government said, left as many as 30 dead.
Four pro-Tibet activists were arrested following yesterday’s protest outside the Chinese consulate in Sydney’s inner west suburb of Camperdown.
Kesang Wangmo, one of the demonstrators at the Melbourne protest, said China’s oppression was hurting her homeland.
“The Chinese say they come to liberate us, to make our life better, but they didn’t. It’s time the world stands up,” an emotional Ms Wangmo said.
“Tibet has lots to offer to the world. I appeal to the Australian public, I know they have good hearts, please be aware of what’s happening in Tibet.”
Police said one woman was cautioned after breaching the consulate compound but no arrests were made.
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