Members of the Tibetan community in Britain are raising their national flag outside Tower Hamlets town hall to mark the 62nd anniversary of the uprising against Chinese occupation.
They are commemorating the occupation in 1959, when their Dalai Lama national spiritual leader was forced into exile.
But the ex-patriot community’s request to have it officially raised over the town hall was rejected in January.
Pema Yoko, who chairs Tibetan Community in Britain, demanded: "The council has raised the flag for other communities in the past — why not us?”
So protesters plan turning up at 11.30am today (March 4) to raise the flag themselves outside.
The town hall has previously hoisted the Palestinian flag when Lutfur Rahman was mayor and the Rainbow Pride flag. But the it has an established basis to decide which flags to fly which limits them to a small number.
“We would be overwhelmed if we accepted every request," a spokesman said. "The significance of this act would be lost.”
Tibetans see Tower Hamlets as pivotal in their global campaign for recognition as it is the local planning authority for China’s new embassy complex at Tower Hill on the site of the Royal Mint, first revealed in the East London Advertiser in 2018.
Free Tibet Campaign’s John Jones said: “March 10 is a key date in the Tibetan calendar that symbolises the peaceful struggle for freedom. There have been some promising signs including the British foreign secretary mentioning Tibet at the UN Human Rights Council, but we need more.”
The Tibet flag is regularly displayed by other local authorities in Britain including Waltham Forest in east London, they point out.
Cllr Rabina Khan, whose proposal to raise the flag today was rejected by Tower Hamlets in January, said at the time: “We must make clear where our own principles apply. with our long history of being home for people fleeing persecution who are now British citizens.”
A proposal was also made at the council earlier this year to rename roads close to proposed embassy complex to commemorate Chinese human rights activists, which would include “Tiananmen Square” to mark the 1989 student protests.
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