EURO-MP ATTENDS TIBET RIGHTS DEMO

7.28.00pm BST (GMT +0100) Fri 4th Apr 2008

Local Euro-MP Liz Lynne attended a demonstration in Brussels, protesting at human rights abuses by the Chinese authorities in Tibet.

The protestors gathered outside the European Commission building and included Tibetan and European activists and several Members of the European Parliament. The demonstration follows an urgency debate on the troubled region in the European Parliament last week.

Speaking after the demonstration, Liz Lynne MEP, who is a member of the Parliament's Tibet Intergroup and Human Rights Subcommittee, said:

"Everyone here wants the European Union to do more to help the people of Tibet, who continue to suffer the Chinese state's human rights violations. We want to see an EU fact-finding mission to Tibet and increased international pressure on the Chinese authorities to stop ethnically-based repression and to start peace negotiations with the Dalai Lama.

"Despite Chinese state TV's best efforts, the recent and ongoing violent clampdown on protestors and parading of detainees in front of the cameras cannot be described as a measured response. For this reason the EU must take the lead and ensure that the Chinese authorities know the world is watching."

On recent calls to protest against China at the Beijing Olympics Games later this year, Liz added:

"However I don't think a full boycott of the Olympic Games would help the Chinese or Tibetan people because it will limit exposure to the outside world. Yet if there is no rapid improvement in the situation in Tibet, we should seriously consider boycotting the opening ceremony."