Hundreds of Tibetans welcome Dalai Lama in Zurich

Hundreds of Tibetans receive Dalai Lama in front of Zurich hotel Keystone-SDA

The Dalai Lama has arrived in Switzerland for a short visit. Hundreds of Tibetans welcomed him at an airport hotel in Opfikon, near Zurich, on Friday.

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The pavement along the access road to the Hilton Zurich Airport was cordoned off with ribbons and bars on Friday afternoon. A large crowd gathered long before the Dalai Lama’s expected arrival at 5.30pm.

Some had turned up in traditional robes, others brought flowers, incense sticks or Tibetan flags. When he arrived at 7.15pm, accompanied by a police escort, the crowd silently raised their heads and filmed with their mobile phones.

The 89-year-old disembarked directly in front of the hotel entrance, where he was greeted with traditional chants and short welcome rituals. He smiled and exchanged words with bystanders. After five minutes, he slowly made his way back into the hotel, supported by attendants.

The Dalai Lama is staying in Switzerland until Monday. On Sunday he will appear at an event in the Hallenstadion. He will take part in a long life ceremony at 9am and give a short lesson in Tibetan. This will be followed by various activities organised by the “Tibetan Community Switzerland and Liechtenstein” until 2pm.

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The community only found out about his visit at short notice, they said in a press release on Friday. The event in the Hallenstadion was organised at short notice – advance ticket sales only started on Wednesday afternoon a week ago.

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“This event has been very popular over the past seven days,” the organisers wrote on the Hallenstadion website. Tickets were still available on Friday but only for seats in the sixth category, which have “no view of the stage and limited acoustics”. These were initially not put on sale, but have now been made available due to demand.

Due to this great interest, the Hallenstadion will open its doors at 7am on Sunday. The “Tibetan Community Switzerland and Liechtenstein” recommends “early arrival”.

The Dalai Lama has already visited Switzerland several times. For example, in September 2018 he attended the 50th anniversary of the Tibet Institute in Rikon in Zurich’s Töss Valley. And in August 2005, he held eight days of lessons in the Hallenstadion; some 30,000 people from 44 countries travelled to Oerlikon at the time, with around 270 journalists from Switzerland and abroad reporting on the event.

Translated from German by DeepL/sb

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