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| China-Japan-Koreas |
| Protests turn violent in Tibetan capital |
| 2008-03-14 |
| BEIJING - Protests led by Buddhist monks against Chinese rule in Tibet turned violent Friday, with shops and vehicles torched and gunshots echoing through the streets of the ancient capital, Lhasa. A radio report said two people had been killed. The European Union called on China to show restraint and Washington said Beijing needed to respect Tibetan culture. Tibet's exiled spiritual leader, the Dalai Lama, appealed to China not to use force against protesters. He called on the Chinese leadership to "address the long-simmering resentment of the Tibetan people through dialogue with the Tibetan people. I also urge my fellow Tibetans not to resort to violence." The largest demonstrations in nearly two decades against Beijing's 57-year-rule over Tibet began Monday, coming at a critically sensitive time for China as it attempts to portray a unified and prosperous nation ahead of the Beijing Olympic Games in August. The demonstrations turned violent Friday when witnesses reported hearing gunfire and seeing vehicles in flames in the city's main shopping district in the center of Lhasa. Crowds hurled rocks at security forces and at restaurant and hotel windows. Radio Free Asia, which is funded by the U.S. government, quoted witnesses as saying two bodies were seen lying on the ground in the Barkor area, a shopping district in the old city where the protests have been centered. The protests that began on Monday's anniversary of a 1959 uprising against Chinese rule were initially led by hundreds of Buddhist monks, but also attracted large numbers of ordinary Tibetans. They were spreading to Tibetan areas outside Lhasa, a city of about 250,000 permanent residents, not including large numbers of soldiers and members of China's paramilitary People's Armed Police. A Western traveler told BBC World television that police had attacked monks near monasteries and said he saw military convoys moving into Lhasa carrying heavily armed troops. Photographs taken by camera phone and forwarded to journalists by the Indian branch of Students for a Free Tibet showed an apparently peaceful protest march staged Friday in Xiahe, a traditionally Tibetan corner of the western Chinese province of Gansu. The pictures showed robed monks — some displaying the banned Tibetan national flag — and lay people marching along a main street. Security forces with riot helmets and shields lined the way, but there was no indication of clashes. |
| Posted by:tu3031 |
| #5 TOPIX > NEW TIBET CRISIS TO TEST CHINESE POWER?; + SRI LANKA ACCUSES US OF GIVING LIFELINE TO TAMIL TIGERS [by criticizing Sri Lankan human rights]. |
| Posted by: JosephMendiola 2008-03-14 23:25 |
| #4 nonetheless Thailand isnt a theocracy, and even when the military is in power is a damned site more open than China. let em try freedom before we prejudge em. |
| Posted by: liberalhawk 2008-03-14 16:10 |
| #3 They should have waited to do this until closer to the Olympics. The Chicoms must be concerned about the PR implications. |
| Posted by: Abu Uluque (aka Ebbang Uluque6305) 2008-03-14 16:02 |
| #2 A valid qualm. |
| Posted by: bigjim-ky 2008-03-14 15:37 |
| #1 I have wondered what Tibet would be like in the absence of the Chinese occupation. Granted, the current Dalai Lama is westernized and so wouldn't be too obnoxious. However, it would most likely be a theocracy. And even though it would be a Buddhist, not Muslim theocracy, I'm not comfortable with religious police enforcing religious laws. Remember that Buddhism isn't all sweetness and light everywhere in the world. In Thailand, for example, Buddhist monks have a tendency for making violent trouble. There is also a big problem with cultural traditions being enforced with religious law. |
| Posted by: Anonymoose 2008-03-14 13:47 |