The Dalai Lama’s presence in DC at his first public appearance with President Obama has drawn hundreds of protesters accusing him of religious discrimination.

WASHINGTON, DC, USA, February 5, 2015 /EINPresswire.com/ -- Outside the National Prayer Breakfast today were over 300 people from the International Shugden Community (ISC) holding placards and chanting loudly “Dalai Lama, stop lying” and “Dalai Lama, give religious freedom”.

When asked by FOX News why they were protesting, spokesperson for the ISC, Nicholas Pitts said "The Dalai Lama talks about peace and tolerance but he has created an atmosphere of religious hatred within his own community. His community is now completely segregated. The people who choose to practice this prayer are banned from government positions, they are refused services in shops, restaurants and even in hospitals and medical facilities - they are not allowed in. We have pictures here [points] that show signs in shop windows and medical clinics saying if you practice this you are not welcome and you will not be served. That is unacceptable in this day and age" (1).

Another protestor, Sonam Lama, a Tibetan-American business owner from Massachusetts, said that he and his family have experienced this discrimination first-hand, even while living within the United States. “Other Tibetans tell their children not to socialize with my daughter because she’s the child of a Shugden family,” he said.

Lama referenced an October 2014 report by PRI’s The World, in which a Tibetan-American Dalai Lama follower in his community compared a Shugden child to a rotten tooth that needed to be extracted (2).

Last year the Tibetan exile government, the CTA, passed a cabinet resolution criminalizing the Shugden faith (3). and then published the names, photographs, and personal information of people who participated in similarly held demonstrations, including that of some Tibetan US residents (4).

Footnotes:
FOX News DC, Feb 5, 2015 http://www.myfoxdc.com/story/28030919/obama-and-dalai-lama-due-at-national-prayer-breakfast
PRI’s The World, Oct 31, 2014. “Breakaway Buddhists Take Aim at the Dalai Lama.” http://www.pri.org/stories/2014-10-31/breakaway-buddhists-take-aim-dalai-lama
Central Tibet Administration, Resolution 3, http://tibet.net/2014/03/20/tibetan-parliament-passes-resolution-concerning-dolgyal/
Central Tibet Administration, “List of Dolgyal [Dorje Shugden] protestors,” http://tibet.net/dolgyal-shugden/list-of-dolgyal-protestors/

Will Fettig
International Shugden Community
323-684-4276
email us here

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