Sunday, March 16, 2008

Dalai Lama won't stop protests in Tibet

In a not so happy turn of events, the Dalai Lama said in a news conference today that he would not order the protesters in Tibet to stop. The situation in Tibet is growing interesting, particularly due to disparate reports about the death toll coming from the Chinese official reports and elsewhere.

According to this article from Chinadaily.com, 10 civilians were killed in the violence last Friday. I thought for a second that this article was just old, but it clearly says it's from March 17. Numerous articles and news sources are saying that at least 80 people have been killed in the protests, with a Korean site claiming "scores of fatalities."

Also according to the article, the Mayor of Lhasa, where the majority of violence has occurred, said that calm had returned to the city, with the unrest provoked only by a handful of monks and lawless persons.

I think I'm going to have say- bullshit. The protests have clearly not calmed down- they've spread into different Tibetan regions of China. Another article I found quotes a policeman as saying that approximately 200 protestors hurled petrol bombs and burnt down a police station in Aba county in the Sichuan province today.

Calm, my ass. Way to be completely propaganda-ish and false about the reporting. China just doesn't want to look bad in front of the international community before the upcoming Beijing Olympics. I think they're failing...

I'll be watching this more- it's not a topic I know a lot about right now, but I hope to get more informed on it in the next couple days.

-HG

No comments: