A Tibetan is arrested by police during anti-China protests in front of the United Nations office in Kathmandu March 15, 2008. Nepal has effectively closed Mount Everest to climbers until after May 10 to allow the Olympic flame to be carried to the top without being troubled by Tibetan protesters, a senior minister said on Friday. (Shruti Shrestha/Reuters)
Tibetan exiles shout slogans during a protest march in Dharmsala, India, Sunday, March 16, 2008. Tibetan exile communities, the public voice of a region now largely sealed off from the rest of the world ramped up their protests on behalf of demonstrators inside Chinese ruled Tibet. (AP Photo/Ashwini Bhatia)By TINI TRAN
Associated Press Writer
BEIJING - Violence in Tibet spilled over into neighboring provinces Sunday where Tibetan protesters defied a Chinese government crackdown. The Dalai Lama warned Tibet faced "cultural genocide" and appealed to the world for help.
Protests against Chinese rule of Tibet were reported in neighboring Sichuan and Qinghai provinces and also in western Gansu province. All are home to sizable Tibetan populations.
The demonstrations come after protests in the Tibetan capital Lhasa escalated into violence Friday, with Buddhist monks and others torching police cars and shops in the fiercest challenge to Beijing's rule over the region in nearly two decades.
"Whether intentionally or unintentionally, some kind of cultural genocide is taking place," said the Dalai Lama, the exiled Tibetan spiritual leader. He was referring to China's policy of encouraging the ethnic Han majority to migrate to Tibet, restrictions on Buddhist temples and re-education programs for monks.
He told reporters in Dharmsala, the north Indian town where Tibet's self-declared government-in-exile is based, that an international body should investigate the government's crackdown on the Lhasa protests.
Tibet was effectively independent for decades before Chinese communist troops entered in 1950. The latest unrest began March 10 on the anniversary of a 1959 uprising against Chinese rule of Tibet.
The protests are an embarrassment for China, coming just weeks before the Beijing Summer Olympics ceremonies kick off with the torch relay, which is set to pass through Tibet.
Thubten Samphel, a spokesman for the Dalai Lama's government in exile, said multiple sources inside Tibet had counted at least 80 corpses since the violence broke out Friday. He did not know how many of the bodies were protesters. On Friday, the exiled government said at least 30 protesters had been killed by Chinese authorities and the number could be as high as 100.
The official Chinese Xinhua News Agency has said at least 10 civilians were burned to death Friday. The figures could not be independently verified because China restricts foreign media access to Tibet.
In Sichuan province, Tibetan monks and police clashed Sunday in Aba county after the monks staged a protest, said a resident there who refused to give his name. He said one policeman had been killed and three or four police vans had been set on fire.
The India-based Tibetan Center for Human Rights and Democracy said at least seven people have been shot dead in the county. There was no way of immediately confirming the claim.
In Qinghai province, 100 monks defied a directive confining them to Rongwo Monastery in Tongren city by climbing a hill behind the monastery, where they set off fireworks and burned incense to protest the crackdown in Tibet.
Businesses were shuttered, and about 30 riot police with shields took up posts near the monastery. Police forced journalists to delete photographs of police.
In western Gansu province, more than 100 students protested at a university in Lanzhou, according to Matt Whitticase of London-based activist group Free Tibet.
A curfew was imposed in Xiahe city in Gansu province on Sunday, a day after police fired tear gas on a 1,000 protesters, including Buddhist monks and ordinary citizens, who had marched from the historic Labrang monastery.
Large communities of ethnic Tibetans live far outside modern Tibet in areas that were the Himalayan region's eastern and northeastern provinces of Amdo and Kham until the communist takeover in 1951. Those areas were later split off by Beijing to become the Chinese province of Qinghai and part of Sichuan province.
Lhasa appeared to remain under a curfew on Sunday, though some people and cars were seen on the streets during daylight. The government has not announced the curfew but residents said authorities have warned them not to go outside for several days now.
Hong Kong Cable TV said about 200 military vehicles each carrying dozens of armed soldiers, drove into the center of Lhasa on Sunday. The footage showed mostly empty streets, but for armored and military vehicles patrolling and soldiers searching buildings.
Loudspeakers on the streets repeatedly broadcast slogans urging residents to "discern between enemies and friends, maintain order."
Xinhua said most shops in the Old Town area of Lhasa, which saw the brunt of the violence, were still closed Sunday. It said some shops in other parts of the town had reopened.
China's communist government is hoping Beijing's hosting of the Aug. 8-24 Olympics will boost its popularity at home as well as its image abroad. But the event has already attracted international scrutiny of China's human rights record and its pollution problems.
International criticism of the crackdown in Tibet so far has been mild, with no threats of an Olympic boycott or other sanctions. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice called Sunday on China "to exercise restraint in dealing with the protests."
Rice said she was "concerned by reports of a sharply increased police and military presence in and around Lhasa." Her statement urged China to release those jailed for protesting.
International Olympic Committee president Jacques Rogge said Saturday he opposed an Olympic boycott over Tibet.
Protests against Chinese rule of Tibet were reported in neighboring Sichuan and Qinghai provinces and also in western Gansu province. All are home to sizable Tibetan populations.
The demonstrations come after protests in the Tibetan capital Lhasa escalated into violence Friday, with Buddhist monks and others torching police cars and shops in the fiercest challenge to Beijing's rule over the region in nearly two decades.
"Whether intentionally or unintentionally, some kind of cultural genocide is taking place," said the Dalai Lama, the exiled Tibetan spiritual leader. He was referring to China's policy of encouraging the ethnic Han majority to migrate to Tibet, restrictions on Buddhist temples and re-education programs for monks.
He told reporters in Dharmsala, the north Indian town where Tibet's self-declared government-in-exile is based, that an international body should investigate the government's crackdown on the Lhasa protests.
Tibet was effectively independent for decades before Chinese communist troops entered in 1950. The latest unrest began March 10 on the anniversary of a 1959 uprising against Chinese rule of Tibet.
The protests are an embarrassment for China, coming just weeks before the Beijing Summer Olympics ceremonies kick off with the torch relay, which is set to pass through Tibet.
Thubten Samphel, a spokesman for the Dalai Lama's government in exile, said multiple sources inside Tibet had counted at least 80 corpses since the violence broke out Friday. He did not know how many of the bodies were protesters. On Friday, the exiled government said at least 30 protesters had been killed by Chinese authorities and the number could be as high as 100.
The official Chinese Xinhua News Agency has said at least 10 civilians were burned to death Friday. The figures could not be independently verified because China restricts foreign media access to Tibet.
In Sichuan province, Tibetan monks and police clashed Sunday in Aba county after the monks staged a protest, said a resident there who refused to give his name. He said one policeman had been killed and three or four police vans had been set on fire.
The India-based Tibetan Center for Human Rights and Democracy said at least seven people have been shot dead in the county. There was no way of immediately confirming the claim.
In Qinghai province, 100 monks defied a directive confining them to Rongwo Monastery in Tongren city by climbing a hill behind the monastery, where they set off fireworks and burned incense to protest the crackdown in Tibet.
Businesses were shuttered, and about 30 riot police with shields took up posts near the monastery. Police forced journalists to delete photographs of police.
In western Gansu province, more than 100 students protested at a university in Lanzhou, according to Matt Whitticase of London-based activist group Free Tibet.
A curfew was imposed in Xiahe city in Gansu province on Sunday, a day after police fired tear gas on a 1,000 protesters, including Buddhist monks and ordinary citizens, who had marched from the historic Labrang monastery.
Large communities of ethnic Tibetans live far outside modern Tibet in areas that were the Himalayan region's eastern and northeastern provinces of Amdo and Kham until the communist takeover in 1951. Those areas were later split off by Beijing to become the Chinese province of Qinghai and part of Sichuan province.
Lhasa appeared to remain under a curfew on Sunday, though some people and cars were seen on the streets during daylight. The government has not announced the curfew but residents said authorities have warned them not to go outside for several days now.
Hong Kong Cable TV said about 200 military vehicles each carrying dozens of armed soldiers, drove into the center of Lhasa on Sunday. The footage showed mostly empty streets, but for armored and military vehicles patrolling and soldiers searching buildings.
Loudspeakers on the streets repeatedly broadcast slogans urging residents to "discern between enemies and friends, maintain order."
Xinhua said most shops in the Old Town area of Lhasa, which saw the brunt of the violence, were still closed Sunday. It said some shops in other parts of the town had reopened.
China's communist government is hoping Beijing's hosting of the Aug. 8-24 Olympics will boost its popularity at home as well as its image abroad. But the event has already attracted international scrutiny of China's human rights record and its pollution problems.
International criticism of the crackdown in Tibet so far has been mild, with no threats of an Olympic boycott or other sanctions. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice called Sunday on China "to exercise restraint in dealing with the protests."
Rice said she was "concerned by reports of a sharply increased police and military presence in and around Lhasa." Her statement urged China to release those jailed for protesting.
International Olympic Committee president Jacques Rogge said Saturday he opposed an Olympic boycott over Tibet.
15 comments:
Hey, your time is running out, you idiots, better cut it out.
If you misbehaved, we'll drag your ass out of the street.
We know what you're thinking! Don't think too far ahead, if I were you, gorillas.
I always admire the bravery of Tibetan peoples to stand up fight against China giant.
Dictator is cruel than flesh-eater giant.
the tibetan are stupid!! tooo shot sightet. When the olympics are over they will suffer even worst. there are other method to handel with this kind of situation. tooo young tooo impusive.
Indeed, criminals do have their good short moment before they go to re-education camp.
Go Tibetan go! You will be freed. Keep up the good work. The more you make noise the embarasment China will get. You should strike right at the time when they celebrate the Olympic. The world will see you and rescue you. I hope you will be freed soon.
Shit dude, Tabitan issue is nothing comparing to Falun Gong issue. They are just make fool of themselves; that is all they will get out of all this.
God damn it, gorillas!
Tibet is no difference than Hawaii.
If you recalled your U.S. history lessons, Hawaai annexation (and eventually became the 50th state) began with sugar interests.
5:22am,
You really like calling us Gorillas! You seem to be very educated in recalling all of your facts. You know that what we are doing here is very effective in educating ourselves with the truth and real evidence.
You like to call us name and like to discredit us many shapes and forms. When you say Hawaii became the 50th state, you are not an ordinary citizen whom by chance monitor this forum 24/7 and manage to leave your comments on every important issues related to freedom.
Like this one the Tibetan is trying to get the world attention of how cruel is China to its people and you just plainly called them stupid.
Similary, the Youn annexed Champa for it land, Montagnard for it Tea Plantation, Kampuchea-Krom for it rich fertile land for rice plantation, many other indigenous people about 54 according to the Youn government website.
We know that you are just doing your job in this forum to discourage us from mobilizing our people, our community from around the world to help stop the Youn westward movement. Youn has accomplished its Southward movement and now to complete its goal the Youn has to run over anybody that is in it way. IE: current Cambodia (Khmer), Loas, and maybe Thailand...
Keep up the good work in calling us Gorillas and if you don't Stupid Uncle Ho will put you to sleep and I totally understand that. Just do your job...
11:50 AM:
I could not concur more with the notion in which you have eloquently alluded in your posting, when you captilized "Gorilla," which means your spacie must be of paramount importance of a significant milestone since we labeled you people as "gorillas."
Moreover, I'm just an ordinary citizen with extraordinary knowledge who exercises my "responsibility" of freedom of speech and I'm "gingerly wary" of my First Amendment rights, following September 11 terrorist attacks on the U.S. soil, and thefore the today's freedom of speech is double-edged sword.
As I have told all of you before, I'm a VERY good friend of the First Family, that's why I'm categorically and unflinchingly underpinned the ruling party's principles and convictions, irrespective of global philosophical and ideological differences. In other words, if one of us is attacked, all of us are attacked ... now, circumstances dictate, and that's when my responsibility come into play. I call this "Fair Game."
Tibet was and is part of China, and will always be part of China, so does Hawaii ... it was and is part of the U.S., and it always part of the U.S. And ... well, "Khmer-Khrom," at least in part, is part of Cambodia, but no longer is ... because it was and is part of Vietnam, and it will always be part of Vietnam. Of course, you can try to claim it as part of Cambodia, if you still want free caskets to go with your menu.
God damn it! I despise religion because it creates dissension and division; of course, religion is "division," that is!
2:01, those are no religion. They are CIA, KGB, ... , and whatever else have we.
Of course, don't ignore the G-man (FBI agent).
I tossed out the religious equation to have a ball with these gorilla, of course. Certainly, I don't think they can think on their feet (that's why the religion was included).
Again, politics have no place for religious leaders. When they're (religious leaders) spured and violently erupted into turmoil, it will only cause uproar; therefore, they'll do more harm than good. Advice: stay away from protests and riots at all cost!
The truth of the matter is Tibet has been part of China -- and still is, and the same as for Hawaii, with the exception that the island has not been part of the U.S; however, with sugar interests, it was annexed as the
50th state. Moreover, Hawaii, due to its geo-strategic importance, remains of paramount importance to the United States. In fact, the United States would repatriate your criminal gorillas to your homeland (Prey Sar prison) if you dare call the island the "Sandwitch Island" as Captain James Cook did, when he came to the island. Plus, Captain Cook was cut up so many pieces for calling the island the "Sandwitch island." Lessons from the history: you poor gorillas, don't get cut up like Captain Cook.
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