10 September 2005
Disruptions at gala dinner in Toronto
(cmaq.net) A student activist, calling for Tibet 's independence, was arrested inside Toronto's Metro Convention Centre, for disrupting a gala dinner, organized in honour of Chinese President Hu Jintao's first official visit to Canada. A rally of hundreds of Tibetans and supporters was held outside the premises. The gala dinner, organized by the Canada China Business Council was intended to foster closer business relations between Canada and China. "Canadian companies must stop financing China's ongoing military occupation of Tibet", said Dechen Dolkar, Chair of the Students for Free Tibet Canada Board of Directors. "It's up to the governments and citizens of free countries like Canada to hold China accountable for its continued systematic repression of Tibetans' fundamental right to determine their own future".