About 60 Tibetans attended a weekend rally at the Wallace F. Bennett Federal Building, urging the world not to forget the tens of thousands of their countrymen who have died under Chinese rule.
China invaded the mountain nation in 1959, and Tibetans have complained of killings and civil rights abuses by their new rulers since.One of those who joined protesters in singing the Tibetan national anthem on Sunday was Lobsang Tenzin, who escaped from Tibet in 1985.
He recalled how, for 18 days, he and four friends slept in caves during the day and traveled at night until they reached Nepal and India. Eight years later, Tenzin was one of 1,000 Tibetans given a visa. He came to Utah.
Pema Chagzoetsang said the Chinese have not relaxed their harsh rule of her homeland over the decades since the invasion.
"It's the same story. All the atrocities of 37 years ago are still true today," said Chagzoetsang, founder of the Utah Free Tibet Support Group. "It is not as public as it used to be, but people disappear all the time for speaking out against the Chinese government."
The 37-year-old was the first Tibetan in Utah when she moved here 13 years ago.
Speaking Sunday, Chagzoetsang delivered a message of hope from the Dalai Lama, Tibet's spiritual leader.
"The Tibet issue will neither go away of its own accord, nor can it be wished away," she read. "As the past has clearly shown, neither intimidation nor coercion of the Tibetan people can force a solution."