(March 10, 2022, Prague) The Czech Senate has once again joined the Flag for Tibet event to commemorate the 63rd anniversary of the violent suppression of the uprising in Lhasa by flying the Tibetan flag on the Kolovrat Palace building. On behalf of the Senate, the flag was hoisted by First Vice-President Jiří Růžička and Senators Přemysl Rabas and Václav Chaloupek. By the decision of the President of the chamber of the Parliament, Miloš Vystrčil, the Tibetan flag was hoisted for the first time at the Senate seat in 2021.

"The ongoing Russian aggression is reminiscent of the Chinese invasion of Tibet on 10 March 1950. In both cases it was an unprovoked and barbaric attack in which innocent people died. Today, in addition to the flag of Ukraine, the flag of Tibet flies at the Senate as a symbol of support for all people who want to live in freedom," said Miloš Vystrčil, President of the upper chamber, who decided to fly the flag.

"The Tibetan people are waging a daily struggle for a simple existence and the self-preservation of their entire culture, which China is systematically and coldly destroying. The vocal support for Tibet's autonomy is therefore not just a symbolic act - it is a contribution to the preservation of traditions and Tibetan cultural and spiritual heritage," explained First Deputy Senate President Jiří Růžička, adding: "to remain silent when injustice is happening is to give evil the power to erupt. I am glad that this year the Chamber of Deputies has joined the raising of the Tibetan flag."

Přemysl Rabas, chairman of the informal Senate Group of Friends of Tibet, appreciated that the Czech Republic is fully returning to the Havel policy based on ethical and moral principles. "Unfortunately, we are now experiencing very closely what it is like when an aggressor with a sense of superiority attacks an independent nation that he intends to rob of its freedoms. Tibet, with a similar experience, may be several thousand kilometres away, but as a democratic country we naturally support those who are denied their freedom wherever it happens on Earth," Rabas said.