About fifty persons protested Saturday morning before the embassy of the People's Republic of China in the Bulgarian capital Sofia against the violence and the human rights abuses by the Chinese authorities in Tibet.

The protesters carried posters saying "Stop the Violence in Tibet" and "Free Tibet Immediately". They called on people from all over the world to support freedom in Tibet and China.

The rally insisted that the Bulgarian Olympic Committee should review its policy of ignoring human rights issues in Tibet, and should guarantee the freedom of expression during the 2008 Olympics in Beijing.

The protesters also demanded that the Bulgarian government exerted pressure on China's authorities for the releasing of all political prisoners in Tibet. Finally, they called upon China to solve the Tibet Question through an open dialogue with Dalai Lama and the Tibetan government in exile.

Bulgaria's former long-time ambassador to India and key figure in the United Democratic Forces party in the 1990s Edvin Sugarev was also present at the protest.

He said that an outright genocide had been taking place in Tibet since the Chinese invasion in 1949 leading to more than 1 million deaths.

Yet, Sugarev was positive that there could be no "domino effect" consequences for Tibet in the wake of the independence of the former Serbian province Kosovo. He added China was never going to agree with the loss of the 2,5 million square kilometers of territory on which Tibet is located.

Bulgaria's former ambassador to India said there was no official position of the Bulgarian government on Tibet that he knew of, and that the cabinet would likely wait for the global reactions first because it would not want to alienate China.

"China is a country that is completely uncompromising on human rights. The whole world is a witness of the outrage that is taking place there," Sugarev stated.

In his words, the acceptable solution of the conflict would mean to adopt Dalai Lama's position - the granting of a cultural autonomy for Tibetans and of real opportunities to participate in the local self-government.

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