Italy: Rome hosted a ceremony to mark the 64th anniversary of the Tibetan national uprising. On this occasion, more than a thousand Tibetans and supporters of Tibet came to Rome from all around Europe. Thupten Gyatso, a member of the Tibetan Parliament in Exile, Thinlay Chukki, the Dalai Lama’s representative to the Tibet Bureau in Geneva, De Priamo Andrea, and Elsa Joseph, a French senator, were among those in attendance. Waving Tibetan flags, the participants marched from Largo Corrado Ricci to Piazza Della Madonna di Loreto. Tibetan and European leaders discussed China’s illegal occupation of Tibet and continued human rights atrocities there in their statements.

The Italian Senate Hall served as the official launch location for the Italian Parliamentary Intergroup for Tibet on March 9. Senator De Priamo Andrea, the Intergroup’s coordinator, Senator Terzi di Sant’Agata Giulio, Member of the House of Deputies Ilenia Malavasi, Senator Domenica Spinelli, and former Intergroup coordinator Luciano Nobili founded the Intergroup.

Deputy Speaker Dolma Tsering Teykhang of the Tibetan Parliament in Exile, Thinlay Chukki of the Tibet Bureau Geneva, Tibetan MP Thupten Gyatso, Claudio Cardelli of the Italia Tibet Association, and Tseten Bergamo of the Tibetan Community of Italy were also present at the event. The intergroup’s launch and the March 10 demonstration by Europe Stands with Tibet were both announced at a joint press conference held in the Senate. Senator De Priamo Andrea, the Intergroup Coordinator, promised to endeavour to adopt significant resolutions on Tibet and to bring attention to the situation in Tibet in the Italian parliament during the news conference. Senator Teryi di Sant’Agata Giulio and the Intergroup.

Malavasi Ilenia and Luciano Nobili, a former intergroup coordinator, both reaffirmed their commitment to upholding human rights in Tibet under Chinese government authority and spoke extensively about it. The Italian Parliamentary Intergroup for Tibet was successfully formed, and Representative Thinlay Chukki thanked the lawmakers and offered her congratulations. Dolma Tsering Teykhang, the deputy speaker of the Tibetan Parliament in exile, brought up grave concerns over the colonial-style boarding schools in Tibet where almost a million Tibetan children were being forcibly absorbed into Chinese culture.

Thupten Gyatso spoke at the conference and stated that Tibet has historically been a sovereign state and that the invasion and occupation of Tibet still constitute an open international conflict. A Tibet Solidarity group was recently founded in the Spanish parliament by senators.