Paris city council voted on Monday to award honorary citizenship to the Dalai Lama, in a move sure to add to tensions with China as fresh anti-French rallies erupted in cities across the country. Mayor Bertrand Delanoe, who tabled the proposal earlier Monday, said the French capital wished to "pay tribute to a champion of peace, a tireless advocate of dialogue between peoples."
"Paris also wants to show its support for the people of Tibet who are defending their most basic right to dignity, freedom and simply life," the Socialist mayor said.
The honour conferred upon the exiled Tibetan spiritual leader comes amid a chill in relations between France and China following the chaotic Olympic torch relay in Paris two weeks ago that was disrupted by human rights protesters. A string of protests in several Chinese cities at the weekend targeted the French retailer Carrefour as well as the US all-news broadcaster CNN. Fresh anti-French protests erupted in nine cities on Monday.
Carrefour's 122 supermarkets have been subject to boycott calls in China after President Nicolas Sarkozy threatened to stay away from the opening ceremony of the Beijing Olympics on August 8 over China's policy in Tibet. Protests against Chinese rule rocked the Himalayan region last month, with exiled Tibetan leaders saying more than 150 people had died in a government crackdown.
Comments
Comments are closed.