(25 Feb 2009) SHOTLIST
1. Pan from lit candles forming words "No Losar" to people sitting around a Tibetan flag on the ground
2. Side shot of a line of people praying
3. Close up of a hand counting prayer beads
4. Various of people praying and holding Tibetan flags
5. SOUNDBITE: (English) Vox Pop, Phuntsok, (only one name given) Nepalese born Tibetan:
"This year we are not celebrating Losar because what we are feeling like we have lost our parents and relatives, we have lots of grieving in our hearts. So we cannot celebrate our Losar in that kind of moment."
6. Tibetan flag
7. SOUNDBITE: (English) Khedroob Thondup, cousin of the Dalai Lama:
"They (the Chinese government) are telling the people of Tibet that 'you have to celebrate New Year' you see. They have closed down all Tibetan areas in Tibet, reinforced the Tibetan areas with the military, with the police, and not allowing Tibetans to move out, even of their houses. So this is a very repressive move by Beijing. Why are they doing this? They are worried that Tibetans will protest again. And I feel the more repressive they are, the more protests there will be."
8. Pan lit candles forming words "No Losar"
9. Wide of people holding Tibetan flags and standing behind the big Tibetan flag singing
10. Mid of people holding Tibetan flags and chanting "Free Tibet" in English
STORYLINE:
Nearly a hundred Buddhists held a candlelit vigil in Taiwan on Wednesday night to mourn the victims of a harsh crackdown on anti-government protests last year in China's Tibet region.
Participants, mostly Tibetans who were born outside Tibet, held the vigil in Taipei on the first day of Losar, Tibet's New Year, but stressed that in memory of those who died in the protests, they would not celebrate their important holiday.
The Chinese government says 22 people died in last year's protests to commemorate the 1959 uprising, but Tibetan rights advocates say many more were killed, and that monks, nuns and villagers were beaten, fined or jailed.
Khedroob Thondup, a cousin of the Dalai Lama, criticised the Chinese government for forcing Tibetans to celebrate the New Year.
He said the more the Chinese government repressed the Tibetan people, the more protests there would be.
On Tuesday the Dalai Lama called on Tibetans not to take part in New Year celebrations, saying they were inappropriate in the wake of the Chinese crackdown last year.
In a New Year message to the Tibetan people, the exiled spiritual leader called on Tibetans to skip festivities and, instead, dedicate good deeds to the victims of the uprising.
Festivities were also toned down elsewhere.
Tibetan groups told of widespread cancellations of religious ceremonies and other activities in Tibetan-inhabited western China.
The Dalai Lama's comments were certain to anger Beijing, which has vilified the exiled leader, blaming him and his followers for instigating the protests.
China has been eager for New Year celebrations to go ahead in a bid to show that normality has returned to Tibet.
A mass refusal to take part in state-backed celebrations would further raise tensions ahead of the upcoming anniversaries.
Authorities, who are wary of unrest during this sensitive period, have already declared Tibetan areas off-limits to foreigners and reportedly cracked down violently on demonstrators.
China claims that Tibet has been a part of its territory for four centuries, while many Tibetans say they were effectively an independent state for much of that time.
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