Chief Tibet separatist clamors for suicide attacks

CEWANG RIGZIN, president of the separatist "Tibetan Youth Congress" (TYC), has been seeking "Tibet independence" through suicide attacks.

"Maybe it is time now for the 'Tibetan People's Uprising Movement' to use the means of suicide attacks to carry on the struggle," Rigzin said in an interview with Italy's Corriere della Sera newspaper recently.

It was time to change the "tactics of struggle" as "there are opportunities for the Chinese to take advantage of the line of non-violence," he said in the interview conducted in Dharamsala, India.

The TYC would seek to achieve "Tibet independence" as soon as possible at any cost, and suicide attacks could be used, he said.

Cewang Rigzin also clamored for a worldwide boycott of the Beijing Olympic Games.

The remarks of the TYC head have drawn strong criticism from many Italians and overseas Chinese in Italy.

"It's an 'extremely horrible' act of terrorism to seek Tibet independence" through violence, which is bound to be condemned by the peace-loving people," said Vittorio Mancini, chairman of the Italy-China Friendship Association.

"It's a mistake to politicize the Olympic Games," he added.

The TYC, a hardline organization affiliated to the Dalai Lama supporters, was established in 1970 in India.

Shortly after its establishment, some TYC members declared that they would "use violence forever" to seek "Tibet independence."

(Xinhua)