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Tibetan Delegation Arrested During Peaceful Vigil
On Tuesday morning, September 3rd, 9AM Jo'burg time, the entire Tibetan delegation began a silent vigil as well as handing out flyers and the Shadow Report. Our event was to coincide with the speech of Zhu Rongji of China during his visit to the WSSD around the corner from Sandton. The vigil was held at Sandton, just outside the "BMW Plaza", near the "big TV screen" and bus parking area, and adjacent to a multi-day vigil by Falun Gong practitioners.
At 9:30, two police officers asked the delegation members to move about 3 meters so that they were be outside of an official area, but which had not been delineated. The delegation complied -- a peaceful and amenable relationship.
At about 10:15, while Senator Bob Brown of Australian Parliament was greeting members of the delegation, and without provocation a cordon of some thirty South African riot police surrounded the delegation. They already had in tow some dozen Greenpeace protesters who had been given permission to demonstrate at the Sandton Plaza (BMW Plaza) but apparently BMW didn't like their efforts so they called the police.
Surrounded, the delegation members were forcibly moved en masse some 60 meters out of the Sandton Plaza area to the bus parking lot and held, without charges, and without any information as to when they would be released. We also did not know when water would be supplied, nor when toilets trips would be allowed.
In all we were held about 75 minutes. No formal charges were announced or filed.
ESSENTIALS: The delegation was silent, except for the chanting monks (during vigil and during the arrest). Our first contact with the police had been peaceful and we had cooperated.
Please contact Mr. Renato Palmi at +27 (SA country code) 083 943 0235 for more details.
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