Video. Tibetan protesters in New Dehli denounce China with shaved heads and prayers

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Video. Tibetan protesters in New Dehli denounce China with shaved heads and prayers

Hundreds of Tibetan exiles gathered in New Delhi on Thursday, 20 August, to protest against China’s new Ethnic Unity and Progress Law.

Some demonstrators shaved their heads in a symbolic gesture, while others chanted slogans against Chinese President Xi Jinping and called on the United Nations to intervene.

The protesters said the legislation threatened Tibetan identity, language, culture and religious traditions, and could provide a legal basis for what they describe as a policy of assimilation. Beijing says the law is intended to promote development, patriotism and unity among China’s 56 officially recognised ethnic groups.

The law, which came into force on 1 July, bans acts deemed likely to encourage divisions between ethnic groups. It also requires schools, families, public bodies and other institutions to promote national unity, and provides for action against people or organisations outside China if they are judged to have harmed ethnic unity.

The protesters also held prayers in memory of Lobsang Palden, also known as Lobga Rangzen. Tibetan organisations say he died on 2 July after setting himself on fire outside the United Nations headquarters in New York, where he had been protesting against China’s policies in Tibet.