For international Human Rights Day, activists from Manchester, Hull, Leeds and Huddersfield celebrated outside the Chinese Manchester Consulate on behalf of imprisoned Tibetan and Chinese people who are unable to. Upon turning up, activists entered the consulate to wish everyone a happy human rights day. The activists friendly demeanour was not met in kind by the Chinese government representatives in the consulate. One Chinese official yelled 'This is an invasion' causing a fit of laughter from the young activists. However, as a Chinese government official, he must know a lot about invasions and occupations, with the Chinese government having invaded and occupied Tibet since 1950. Staff pushed and hustled the peaceful protesters off the premises, their fury met by chants for Tibetan independence and the release of Gedhun Choekyi Nyima. The consulate representatives tried to photograph all of the activists, and they even tried to snatch one man's camera. Anger, a prevailing theme of the day was sparked by one activist retaliating with his camera, and consulate staff asked local police to arrest the activists. However, the activists’ co-operation with the local police meant that the protest was carried out peacefully and lawfully, with no arrests.

The activists, including Students for a Free Tibet, Leeds University Tibet Soc, Hull Human Rights Action, and Falun Gong practitioners continued chanting and distributing information before the first Olympic Award Ceremony. With only eight months to go to the Beijing Olympics 2008 China is winning a gold medal for human rights abuses. Promised improvements in freedom of speech and in the governments respect for human rights have turned into crackdowns in Tibet, greater controls on journalists, forced evictions, imprisonment of AIDS & Democracy activists and continued persecution of religious practitioners. As such, medals were presented to Wen Jiabao, Hu Jintao and Liu Jianchao, who had come all the way from Beijing to receive their Gold medals for Human Rights Abuses and Repression of Religion.

Hu, the President of China said 'I'm honoured to receive this recognition for my blatant disrespect for the Human Rights of others. I like nothing better than to oppress Tibetans, Falun Gong practitioners, religious people and anyone who opposes me and my government. After years of hard work and the perfection of oppression, I can safely say I deserve these medals.'

Luke, of Students for a Free Tibet said 'As we approach the Beijing
Olympics, it is clear that the Chinese government is playing games with human rights abuses. China's treatment of political prisoners, shootings of Tibetan refugees and repression of religions and ethnic minorities must end. Today, Tibet and human rights activists have gathered to pressurise the Chinese government to improve its human rights record'.

Liam, of Hull Human Rights Action commented 'Not only does China repress its own people, but also supports oppressive regimes in Sudan and Burma. China pledged to improve its human rights record by the Beijing Olympics, but instead has treated the Olympics as a licence for tyranny.'

Activists subverted local signs to highlight the human rights situation in China and phone protests continued throughout the day. They protested until the consulate's closing at 12 pm before saying a big, friendly goodbye to their new friends in the consulate. We're sure the Chinese consulate staff looks forward to seeing their friendly faces again soon.

Contact:  info@sftuk.org
Photos by Luke Ward