Free Tibet Campaign's activists, Katie Mallin and Matt Whitticase, are members of the team who protested against China-Tibet (Golmud-Lhasa) Railway in Beijing will be arriving to the UK from Hong Kong.

Katie Mallin was one of the three women activists who unfurled a banner reading "China- Tibet Railway: Designed to Destroy" in Beijing's Central Railway Station. The three women were detained immediately by the police, only to be released after a few hours. The protest was held on the eve of the launch of the new rail line that will link, for the first time, Beijing and Lhasa. Their protest kicked off an international day of protest against the railway, which made its first official trip from Beijing to Lhasa on July 1st (1).

Tibetans fear that the Chinese Government will use the railway to further its colonization of Tibet by moving in ever-larger numbers of Chinese settlers and military personnel while transporting out Tibet's vast natural resources (2).

"We decided to take this action as an act of solidarity with Tibetans inside Tibet, who have attempted to sound an alarm over China's Tibet Railway, but are unable to make even the mildest criticisms of China's destructive policies without facing severe repercussions." Said Katie Mallin on her arrival safely to Hong Kong.

For intreviews with Katie Mallin and Matt Whitticase contact: Yael Weisz-Rind 07733 391773 or 020 7324 4605 or yael@freetibet.org

Notes to Editors

(1) 1 July is an important and symbolic date in the Chinese Communist Party's calendar as it marks the 85th anniversary of the founding of the Chinese Communist Party (1 July 1921) and anniversary day of Hong Kong's hand-over from Britain to China in 1997.

(2) BACKGROUND ON THE GOLMUD-LHASA RAILWAY
Mao had a dream: a rail line connecting mainland China to Tibet that would dominate the region and tie it to mainland China. Due to the complexities of laying down a rail line at such high altitude and on fragile soil the project could not be realized. Until now. This year the Golmud-Lhasa rail line has been completed and the first commercial train to Lhasa will depart from Beijing on 1 July 2006, a year ahead of schedule.

Tibetans inside and outside Tibet see the GBP 2.2 billion railway project as the last step in China's efforts to consolidate its political, economic and military power over Tibet. A symbol of China's occupation of Tibet, the railway will change Tibet's unique cultural and natural landscape forever and lead to what the Dalai Lama described as "cultural genocide".

The railway's main purposes are:
- To increase ongoing Han Chinese population transfer into Tibet thus further diluting the Tibetan population. Tibetans are already a minority in their own country.
- To strengthen China's military presence in Tibet through more rapid deployment of troops and missiles.
- Exploitation and extraction of Tibet's natural resources.

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