Tibetans commemorate resistance with a rally

Tibetans in Utah held a rally Monday to commemorate the 66th anniversary of resistance to the illegal occupation by Chinese government forces in Tibet on March 10, 1959.

On this day in 1959, thousands of Tibetans spontaneously marched out in the streets of Lhasa, the capital city of Tibet, to protest the Chinese invasion and occupation.

According to a press release from the Utah Tibetan Association, the protest was prompted by the news that the Chinese government had invited His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama for a theatrical show in their military garrison with a plan to kidnap him. Protesters blockaded the streets in Lhasa for several days. The Chinese responded with widespread brutality and one week later the Dalai Lama was forced to escape into exile on the night of March 17, 1959, disguised as a Tibetan soldier. A reported 1.2 million Tibetans were killed in the invasion and occupation of Tibet.

Every year since, thousands of Tibetans and their supporters in their respective exiled countries and communities take to the streets to mark the anniversary of Tibetan National Uprising Day.

Deseret News photojournalist Scott G Winterton documented the rally.