On April 9^th International Olympic Committee (IOC) President Jacque  Rogge said that, despite widespread protests, he has no plans to cut short the Olympic torch relay. The Tibet Autonomous Region’s (TAR) Chairman Qiangba Puncog stated in Beijing: "We will fully prepare for it and the Olympic torch relay in Tibet will be a complete success". In an ominous warning against protests, he threatened: "If someone dares to sabotage the torch relay in Tibet and its scaling of Mount Everest, we will seriously punish him and will not be soft-handed”.

China’s torch relay – titled “journey of harmony” – is still scheduled to go through Tibetan areas including Lhasa, parts of Amdo and Kham. The Chinese government is also determined to take the torch up Mount Everest on the Tibetan side in a callous attempt to legitimise its baseless claims to sovereignty over Tibet.

The torch will go through areas where thousands of Tibetans, who protested peacefully in March, are being imprisoned, many suffering torture. The torch may very well cover ground where the blood of Tibetans has recently been shed.

Parading the torch in front of the repressed people of Tibet would be an abhorrent sight, showing contempt for human rights and the Olympic ideal.

By insisting the Olympic torch be carried through Tibet, China wants to show the world and its own citizens that Tibet is part of China. The torch, which is supposed to be the symbol of peace and harmony among nations, must not go to Tibet where a military lockdown is taking place. Bringing the torch to areas where protests have been crushed is surely going to escalate the situation and provoke further protests. That would lead to more arrests, torture and bloodshed, linking the torch and the IOC with Tibetan deaths.

The IOC’s next executive meeting is taking place in Beijing on April 10^th and 11^th. It is expected that it will make a decision about the troubled torch route.

TAKE ACTION!

Demand that the IOC immediately withdraws the torch from all Tibetan areas on the torch route. If the IOC does not want the blood of Tibetans spilled on the route of the Olympic torch, it must pull the plug on the torch’s journey through Tibet.

Write to:

Mr. Jacques Rogge

President

International Olympic Committee

Château de Vidy

1007 Lausanne

Switzerland

Fax: + 41 21 621 6216

E-mail: solidarity@olympic.org

Send a copy to:

Lord Moynihan

Chairman

British Olympic Association