Warsaw, July 28: Tibetan spiritual leader the Dalai Lama Tuesday visited the Warsaw Uprising museum and praised Poles’ love of freedom in their fight against the Nazi German occupation during World War II.
In a visit coming just ahead of the 65th anniversary of the start of the uprising on Aug 1, 1944, the Dalai Lama said the museum exhibition showed how bitter the fighting had been.
During the Warsaw Uprising, some 200,000 people, mostly civilians, were killed in the fighting between Aug 1 and early October 1944.
The Polish Press Agency PAP said that during the visit to the museum, a bystander had shouted “long live free Tibet”, with the Dalai Lama then thanking the man and hugging him.
At a lecture given in the morning at Warsaw University, the Tibetan spiritual leader praised the efforts underway by some regional Polish politicians to have a street intersection name after Free Tibet.
Regarding the situation in Tibet, the Dalai Lama said, according to PAP: “Travel to Tibet and convince yourselves how it is there. If the situation is as good as the Chinese say, then they should also show it to the world.”
The Dalai Lama, who arrived in Poland late Monday, is to receive honourary Warsaw city citizenship Wednesday.
–Agencies