Santa Barbara Friends of Tibet
Tibetan Association of Souther California
PRESS RELEASE
For Immediate Release, 2 April 2008
Santa Barbara Friends of Tibet, Kevin Young 805-637-2048, kyoung@sbre.com
Tibetan Association of Southern California, Namgyal Kyulo 310-895-3259, namgyalkyulo@yahoo.com
CALIFORNIA TIBET FREEDOM TORCH EVENTS AND BIKE RELAY
April 8-15, 2008: www.tibetanfreedomtorch.org
“Light the passion, share the dream: Freedom and Justice for Tibet”
Santa Barbara - Tibetan cyclists will carry the Tibetan Freedom Torch, an alternative Olympic torch, from San Francisco to Los Angeles in a six-day relay from April 9th to 15th. The relay will follow events in San Francisco April 8-9 to protest the visit of Beijing’s Olympic Torch and to celebrate the World Traveling Tibetan Freedom Torch. The Freedom Torch is a symbol of the hopes and aspirations of the Tibetan people for freedom and justice and will be carried through 50 cities around the world. The San Francisco to Los Angeles route April 9-15 will include the towns of Palo Alto, Santa Cruz, Monterey, San Luis Obispo, Santa Ynez, Santa Barbara, Ventura, Oxnard, Santa Monica and Los Angeles. Tibetans including Jigme Norbu (son of Taktser Rinpoche who is the oldest brother of His Holiness The Dalai Lama) will be riding relay style over 500 miles down HWY 1 to deliver petitions for Tibetan Freedom and Justice to the Los Angeles Chinese consulate.
Schedule:
Wednesday April 9: Ride 40 Miles SF to Stanford
Thursday April 10: Ride 100 miles to Monterey. Noon Stanford University Tibetan Freedom Torch Rally.
Friday April 11: Ride 70 miles to Lucia, Noon UC Santa Cruz Tibetan Freedom Torch Rally.
Saturday April 12: Ride 70 miles to San Luis Obispo.
Sunday April 13: Ride 100 miles to Santa Barbara.
Monday April 14: Ride 100 miles to Santa Monica, Noon UC Santa Barbara Tibet Freedom Torch Rally.
Tuesday April 15: Ride 20 miles to L.A. Chinese Consulate, Noon UCLA Tibetan Freedom Torch Rally. On this day, a group of people will stage a one day hunger strike protest in front of the Chinese Consulate 443 Shatto Place, Los Angeles, CA 90020, between 8AM - 5PM. The Tibetan Association of Southern California, Los Angeles Friends of Tibet, and other Tibet supporters will march from the corner of South Normandie Ave and Wilshire Blvd at 2:30 along with Torch relay bike riders to the Chinese Consulate at 3PM. There will be speeches, a press conference, and a hand over of petitions. The event will finish at 5PM.