Dalai Lama made Paris citizen

The Dalai Lama has been made an honorary citizen of Paris, adding to diplomatic tension between France and China.

The capital’s city council voted to give the exiled Tibetan spiritual leader the symbolic title.

Paris Mayor Bertrand Delanoë, a member of the Socialist Party, said the Dalai Lama was “a champion of peace”.

The move was not supported by Nicolas Sarkozy, who is ratcheting up diplomatic efforts to diffuse tensions between France and China in the wake of the protests which affected the Olympic torch relay in Paris.

The president has apologised officially to Jin Jing, the paralympian who was jostled by a pro-Tibet demonstrator during the torch relay, in scenes that caused outrage in China.

Mr Delanoë said in honouring the Dalai Lama, Paris wanted "to show its support for the people of Tibet who are defending their most basic right to dignity, freedom and simply life".

Franco-Columbian hostage Ingrid Betancourt, Burmese democracy activist Aung San Suu Kyi, and Iranian human rights lawyer Shirin Ebadi have all been made honorary citizens of Paris during Delanoë’s tenure as mayor.

Communist councillors abstained from the vote saying that they did not support giving honorary titles to religious leaders.

Photo: www.buddhismus.at