Taiwan Tati Cultural and Educational Foundation

Nearly 200 Tibetans and Taiwanese yesterday took to the streets in Taipei to voice their support for the independence and freedom of Tibet, while remembering those Tibetans who sacrificed their lives in an uprising against Chinese occupation of their country in 1959.

“Tibetans want to go home! The Dalai Lama wants to go home!” the crowd shouted as they marched. “Tibet belongs to Tibetans! Chinese Communist Party [CCP] get out of Tibet!”

Before the parade began, Tibetans performed a skit to show China’s repression of Tibetans.

An explosion and feared meltdown at a Japanese nuclear plant yesterday exposed the scale of the disaster facing the country after a massive quake and tsunami left more than 1,000 dead.

Japanese Prime Minister Naoto Kan said the magnitude 8.9 quake and the terrifying tsunami that followed were an “unprecedented national disaster” and vowed to protect those living near the stricken plant.

Reactor cooling systems failed at two nuclear facilities after Friday’s record earthquake, which unleashed a terrifying 10m tsunami that tore through coastal towns and cities, destroying everything in its path.