http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5j7cV8KRfDpcE1792bvS9XMvLbGqQD96RCEJG2
Crowds protest around world for freedom in Tibet
By JENNIFER PELTZ
3-10-9
NEW YORK (AP) — Hundreds of pro-Tibetan protesters marched in New York City on Tuesday, the 50th anniversary of the failed uprising that sent the Dalai Lama into exile.
The protest was mirrored by similar demonstrations in Europe and Asia as Tibetan exiles and their supporters urged an end to Chinese rule in the region.
Demonstrators marched to the United Nations wearing T-shirts saying "Tibet — 50 years of resistance." They planned to move on to the Chinese Consulate and other locales.
A consulate spokesman said officials have taken security precautions but have no other response to the protests.
Tuesday marks a half-century since the March 10, 1959, riots inside Tibet that led to a Chinese crackdown and, later that month, the Dalai Lama's dramatic flight across the Himalayas and into exile.
There has been a widening rift between those still in Tibet and their Chinese rulers since new violence engulfed the region last year.
In India, thousands of young Tibetans marched through the streets Tuesday in Dharmsala, the town where the Dalai Lama set up his base after fleeing Tibet.
The spiritual leader, now 73, told followers there that Chinese rulers were treating his people "like criminals deserving to be put to death." In unusually harsh language, he said they have pushed Tibetan culture and identity almost to extinction and "brought untold suffering to the land and people of Tibet."
In London, more than 100 protesters marched near the Houses of Parliament, some dressed in monk outfits or bright traditional Tibetan dresses.
"I can hold this flag here, but a Tibetan person couldn't hold their flag in their country," said Julie Speechley, one of the protesters in London. "I could say `freedom for Tibet' here, but a Tibetan person could be imprisoned and tortured for that."
Similar protests were held Tuesday across Europe and the Asia-Pacific region.
In Germany, Green Party lawmaker Volker Beck called on world leaders to encourage China to resume dialogue with the Dalai Lama. A small group of demonstrators gathered outside the Chinese Embassy in Berlin.
Some 80 people lit white candles in front of the Chinese Embassy in Warsaw, Poland.
In Canberra, the Australian capital, a handful of protesters scuffled with police outside the Chinese Embassy after about 300 had marched from Parliament House.
Police arrested four people after they broke through temporary fencing bordering a designated protest area, police said. The phone at the press office in the Chinese Embassy in Canberra rang unanswered Tuesday.
In Nepal, home to thousands of Tibetan exiles, police blocked about 100 Tibetans who demonstrated on the outskirts of the capital Katmandu chanting "Stop killing in Tibet! Free Tibet!"
Associated Press writers Rod McGuirk in Canberra, Australia; Gavin Rabinowitz in Dharmsala, India; and Laura Nichols in London contributed to this report.
Showing posts with label Dalai Lama. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Dalai Lama. Show all posts
Thursday, March 19, 2009
Friday, March 28, 2008
E.U. weighs Olympic boycott over Tibet
http://www.csmonitor.com/2008/0327/p04s01-woeu.html
from the March 27, 2008 edition
E.U. weighs Olympic boycott over Tibet
The European Union meets Friday to discuss ties to China after the unrest in Tibet.
By Robert Marquand Staff writer of The Christian Science Monitor
Paris
If the government of China hopes the world will go for its line on Tibet and the nefarious Dalai Lama and his purported "clique" – Europe isn't buying it.
The response to the Tibetan crisis in London, Paris, and Berlin, rather, is a call for "dialogue" between China and the exiled Tibetan leader, and"restraint" by Beijing.
A boycott of the opening ceremony of the 2008 Olympic Games is being discussed as a leverage point in Austria, Belgium, Britain, and France – to be determined by how China handles the frustrations of its Tibetan minority.
French President Nicolas Sarkozy has "left open the option" of boycotting the ceremony, Germany has blocked talks with China on economic development, and Britain's foreign secretary, David Miliband, says that Tibet demonstrations will be authorized as the Olympic torch is carried through London on April 6.
Prince Charles, a friend of the Dalai Lama, had already decided in January not to attend the opening ceremony, he said, in a letter to a human rights group.
Europeans have long had a fascination with and sympathy for the Himalayan region and its Buddhist spiritual traditions – and the Dalai Lama is a frequent visitor to the Continent.
This Friday, Europe's foreign ministers meet in Slovenia, which holds the rotating presidency of the EU, to adopt a common position on relations with Beijing and "the suffering of Tibet," as French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner describes it.
The question in Slovenia is how to balance appreciation for the progress China has made with concern about the heavy handed tactics of an unelected government that has long eschewed any dialogue with those disagreeing with it. Most European states also have significant business interests in China.
While no European Union state is preparing to boycott the 2008 Games – "Let's not be more Tibetan than the Dalai Lama," who did not advocate boycott, says Mr. Kouchner – there is a general revulsion at the scenes out of Tibet, and at what is seen as an overheated Chinese propaganda effort to demonize the Dalai Lama and hold him responsible for violence.
In a clear rebuke to the Chinese position on Dalai Lama, British Prime Minister Gordon Brown plans to meet the spiritual leader in May, and the Dalai Lama was invited to speak at a conference in Nantes, France, during the games in August.
As the British Foreign Office issued a human rights report critical of China this week, Mr. Miliband said, "There needs to be mutual respect between all communities and sustained dialogue between the Dalai Lama and the Chinese authorities."
On May 22, the Dalai Lama will give a speech at the Royal Albert Hall in London.
On Wednesday Robert Menard, general secretary of Reporters Sans Frontières in Paris, the journalistic watchdog group, stated that Mr. Sarkozy should boycott the opening if China does not release 30 political prisoners who are on the lists of nearly every human rights group, and if foreign correspondents are continued to be banned from working in Tibet.
Mr. Menard's group raced to unfurl a Tibetan flag at the opening ceremony of the games in Athens this week while a Chinese official was speaking – an act widely criticized in the journalistic community, which has depended on RSF to report on press violations.
Prior to the China-Tibet dissatisfaction in Europe, many protest groups here demanded that China stop its support of the Sudanese government, widely regarded as a main culprit in the starvation and chaos in Darfur. The phrase "Genocide Olympics" has been used in Europe among human rights groups to describe the twinning of the Games with China's policy toward Sudan.
from the March 27, 2008 edition
E.U. weighs Olympic boycott over Tibet
The European Union meets Friday to discuss ties to China after the unrest in Tibet.
By Robert Marquand Staff writer of The Christian Science Monitor
Paris
If the government of China hopes the world will go for its line on Tibet and the nefarious Dalai Lama and his purported "clique" – Europe isn't buying it.
The response to the Tibetan crisis in London, Paris, and Berlin, rather, is a call for "dialogue" between China and the exiled Tibetan leader, and"restraint" by Beijing.
A boycott of the opening ceremony of the 2008 Olympic Games is being discussed as a leverage point in Austria, Belgium, Britain, and France – to be determined by how China handles the frustrations of its Tibetan minority.
French President Nicolas Sarkozy has "left open the option" of boycotting the ceremony, Germany has blocked talks with China on economic development, and Britain's foreign secretary, David Miliband, says that Tibet demonstrations will be authorized as the Olympic torch is carried through London on April 6.
Prince Charles, a friend of the Dalai Lama, had already decided in January not to attend the opening ceremony, he said, in a letter to a human rights group.
Europeans have long had a fascination with and sympathy for the Himalayan region and its Buddhist spiritual traditions – and the Dalai Lama is a frequent visitor to the Continent.
This Friday, Europe's foreign ministers meet in Slovenia, which holds the rotating presidency of the EU, to adopt a common position on relations with Beijing and "the suffering of Tibet," as French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner describes it.
The question in Slovenia is how to balance appreciation for the progress China has made with concern about the heavy handed tactics of an unelected government that has long eschewed any dialogue with those disagreeing with it. Most European states also have significant business interests in China.
While no European Union state is preparing to boycott the 2008 Games – "Let's not be more Tibetan than the Dalai Lama," who did not advocate boycott, says Mr. Kouchner – there is a general revulsion at the scenes out of Tibet, and at what is seen as an overheated Chinese propaganda effort to demonize the Dalai Lama and hold him responsible for violence.
In a clear rebuke to the Chinese position on Dalai Lama, British Prime Minister Gordon Brown plans to meet the spiritual leader in May, and the Dalai Lama was invited to speak at a conference in Nantes, France, during the games in August.
As the British Foreign Office issued a human rights report critical of China this week, Mr. Miliband said, "There needs to be mutual respect between all communities and sustained dialogue between the Dalai Lama and the Chinese authorities."
On May 22, the Dalai Lama will give a speech at the Royal Albert Hall in London.
On Wednesday Robert Menard, general secretary of Reporters Sans Frontières in Paris, the journalistic watchdog group, stated that Mr. Sarkozy should boycott the opening if China does not release 30 political prisoners who are on the lists of nearly every human rights group, and if foreign correspondents are continued to be banned from working in Tibet.
Mr. Menard's group raced to unfurl a Tibetan flag at the opening ceremony of the games in Athens this week while a Chinese official was speaking – an act widely criticized in the journalistic community, which has depended on RSF to report on press violations.
Prior to the China-Tibet dissatisfaction in Europe, many protest groups here demanded that China stop its support of the Sudanese government, widely regarded as a main culprit in the starvation and chaos in Darfur. The phrase "Genocide Olympics" has been used in Europe among human rights groups to describe the twinning of the Games with China's policy toward Sudan.
Thursday, March 20, 2008
Dalai Lama: China causing 'cultural genocide'
http://edition.cnn.com/2008/WORLD/asiapcf/03/16/tibet.unrest/
Dalai Lama: China causing 'cultural genocide'
Story Highlights
NEW: Dalai Lama accuses China of "cultural genocide" of Tibetans
Live footage shows Chinese police searching door to door in Lhasa
Tibetans in exile say 80 dead in protests; China says 10
(CNN) -- The Dalai Lama on Sunday called for an international probe of China's treatment of Tibet, which he said is causing "cultural genocide" of his people.
The exiled spiritual leader of Tibet spoke at a news conference Sunday in Dharmsala, India, two days after violent clashes between pro-autonomy demonstrators and Chinese security forces in the Tibetan capital Lhasa.
A spokesman for the Tibetan exile government said it has confirmed at least 80 deaths in Friday's violence and that protests were continuing outside the capital on Sunday, further undermining China's hopes of a smooth run-up to the 2008 Beijing Olympics.
Tibet Watch, a group based in Daramsala, India, told CNN that 34 people have died in the Nwaga County area of Sichuan province in western China.
The dead include women and children, the group said in an e-mail, adding they were killed by Chinese police attempting to stop the protests.
Eight bodies were brought to the Nagaba Kirti monastery, the Tibetan Center for Human Rights and Democracy in Dharamsala told CNN. Of the eight, two are the bodies of monks, the center said.
Another protest took place in Machu County in northwestern China, the group said. It was started by some Tibetan students distributing fliers.
They were later joined by monks and laypeople. During the demonstration, several shops and a security headquarters were burned, Tibet Watch said. An estimated 2,000 Tibetans were using firecrackers in the streets, the group said.
Rare live video broadcasts from Lhasa Sunday showed dozens of Chinese police searching a section of the capital, near the palace where the Dalai Lama lived before going into exile 49 years ago.
The Dalai Lama said China, as the world's most populous nation, deserves to host the Olympics but it must look seriously at repairing its human rights record "in order to be a good host."
He laughed at suggestions that the exile government was fueling the anti-Chinese protests, saying it was the natural result of deep resentment caused by China's treatment of Tibetans as second class citizens in their own land.
The Dalai Lama -- who fled his homeland 29 years ago after a failed uprising, said Tibet's "ancient cultural heritage" is threatened with extinction by China.
He said the officials in the Chinese government's local administration in Tibet were "very, very negative" toward the native Tibetans, which prevents development of a "harmonious society."
Tibet, he said, is seeking autonomy necessary to safeguard its heritage.
"We are not seeking separation," he said. In fact, he said, Tibet can enjoy modernization through its connection to China.
China was using force to gain stability and peace, but it would always be superficial, he said.
True harmony and unity must come from the heart, the Dalai Lama said.
Although Chinese authorities are keeping a tight control over communications out of Tibet in recent days, the world got a rare live glimpse Sunday inside the Tibetan capital Lhasa.
Video provided live by CNN affiliate Hong Kong Cable showed armed Chinese police, dressed in riot gear, searching door to door through the Tai Yan Dao section of Lhasa -- near the Potala Palace. Watch police conduct searches. »
There was no sign of violence between the police or residents.
CNN International's live rebroadcast of the video was not blacked out by the Chinese government to viewers in that country. The government sometimes exercises its power to censor CNN's broadcast of stories sensitive to China by interrupting the broadcast as it is fed into the country.
The Hong Kong Cable camera appeared to be pointed out a window above the area being patrolled.
A spokesman for the Tibetan government in exile told CNN Sunday it had confirmed from "reliable sources" inside Tibet that at least 80 people were killed during protests Friday in Lhasa. Many others were shot to death by police in other areas, but the numbers have not been confirmed, an exile spokesman said.
The exile government said Chinese authorities had effectively imposed martial law, although it has not been officially declared. Schools, shops and businesses have been closed, it said.
Home telephones and cell phones have been cut off and the movement of people is restricted in many parts of Tibet, it said.
"Monasteries have been completely sealed off by [the military] and remain under extremely strict surveillance," the exiles said. "Monks are being followed even as they try to move within the compounds of the monastery."
Still, there were protests going on outside the Tibetan capital, the exiles said.
More than 200 people protested in Nyangden -- near the Sera Monastery north of Lhasa -- Sunday, the exiles said.
Police used tear gas against demonstrators who took to the streets of Kama Kusang, east of Lhasa, on Sunday, they said.
The exile spokesman also said there were major protests at the Labrang Tashikyil Monastery and at least four people were taken into custody by Chinese soldiers.
Xinhua, China's official news agency, quoted police in Tibet giving protesters a deadline of midnight Monday "to stop their criminal activities and offering leniency to those who surrender themselves."
"Those who surrender and provide information on other lawbreakers will be exempt from punishment," Xinhua reported the police notice said.
Tibet is one of two provinces in China, along with Xinjiang, where the Chinese government places restrictions on reporters' access. Government permission is required for foreign media to enter Tibet and Xinjiang, and CNN has not received permission to go in.
Dalai Lama: China causing 'cultural genocide'
Story Highlights
NEW: Dalai Lama accuses China of "cultural genocide" of Tibetans
Live footage shows Chinese police searching door to door in Lhasa
Tibetans in exile say 80 dead in protests; China says 10
(CNN) -- The Dalai Lama on Sunday called for an international probe of China's treatment of Tibet, which he said is causing "cultural genocide" of his people.
The exiled spiritual leader of Tibet spoke at a news conference Sunday in Dharmsala, India, two days after violent clashes between pro-autonomy demonstrators and Chinese security forces in the Tibetan capital Lhasa.
A spokesman for the Tibetan exile government said it has confirmed at least 80 deaths in Friday's violence and that protests were continuing outside the capital on Sunday, further undermining China's hopes of a smooth run-up to the 2008 Beijing Olympics.
Tibet Watch, a group based in Daramsala, India, told CNN that 34 people have died in the Nwaga County area of Sichuan province in western China.
The dead include women and children, the group said in an e-mail, adding they were killed by Chinese police attempting to stop the protests.
Eight bodies were brought to the Nagaba Kirti monastery, the Tibetan Center for Human Rights and Democracy in Dharamsala told CNN. Of the eight, two are the bodies of monks, the center said.
Another protest took place in Machu County in northwestern China, the group said. It was started by some Tibetan students distributing fliers.
They were later joined by monks and laypeople. During the demonstration, several shops and a security headquarters were burned, Tibet Watch said. An estimated 2,000 Tibetans were using firecrackers in the streets, the group said.
Rare live video broadcasts from Lhasa Sunday showed dozens of Chinese police searching a section of the capital, near the palace where the Dalai Lama lived before going into exile 49 years ago.
The Dalai Lama said China, as the world's most populous nation, deserves to host the Olympics but it must look seriously at repairing its human rights record "in order to be a good host."
He laughed at suggestions that the exile government was fueling the anti-Chinese protests, saying it was the natural result of deep resentment caused by China's treatment of Tibetans as second class citizens in their own land.
The Dalai Lama -- who fled his homeland 29 years ago after a failed uprising, said Tibet's "ancient cultural heritage" is threatened with extinction by China.
He said the officials in the Chinese government's local administration in Tibet were "very, very negative" toward the native Tibetans, which prevents development of a "harmonious society."
Tibet, he said, is seeking autonomy necessary to safeguard its heritage.
"We are not seeking separation," he said. In fact, he said, Tibet can enjoy modernization through its connection to China.
China was using force to gain stability and peace, but it would always be superficial, he said.
True harmony and unity must come from the heart, the Dalai Lama said.
Although Chinese authorities are keeping a tight control over communications out of Tibet in recent days, the world got a rare live glimpse Sunday inside the Tibetan capital Lhasa.
Video provided live by CNN affiliate Hong Kong Cable showed armed Chinese police, dressed in riot gear, searching door to door through the Tai Yan Dao section of Lhasa -- near the Potala Palace. Watch police conduct searches. »
There was no sign of violence between the police or residents.
CNN International's live rebroadcast of the video was not blacked out by the Chinese government to viewers in that country. The government sometimes exercises its power to censor CNN's broadcast of stories sensitive to China by interrupting the broadcast as it is fed into the country.
The Hong Kong Cable camera appeared to be pointed out a window above the area being patrolled.
A spokesman for the Tibetan government in exile told CNN Sunday it had confirmed from "reliable sources" inside Tibet that at least 80 people were killed during protests Friday in Lhasa. Many others were shot to death by police in other areas, but the numbers have not been confirmed, an exile spokesman said.
The exile government said Chinese authorities had effectively imposed martial law, although it has not been officially declared. Schools, shops and businesses have been closed, it said.
Home telephones and cell phones have been cut off and the movement of people is restricted in many parts of Tibet, it said.
"Monasteries have been completely sealed off by [the military] and remain under extremely strict surveillance," the exiles said. "Monks are being followed even as they try to move within the compounds of the monastery."
Still, there were protests going on outside the Tibetan capital, the exiles said.
More than 200 people protested in Nyangden -- near the Sera Monastery north of Lhasa -- Sunday, the exiles said.
Police used tear gas against demonstrators who took to the streets of Kama Kusang, east of Lhasa, on Sunday, they said.
The exile spokesman also said there were major protests at the Labrang Tashikyil Monastery and at least four people were taken into custody by Chinese soldiers.
Xinhua, China's official news agency, quoted police in Tibet giving protesters a deadline of midnight Monday "to stop their criminal activities and offering leniency to those who surrender themselves."
"Those who surrender and provide information on other lawbreakers will be exempt from punishment," Xinhua reported the police notice said.
Tibet is one of two provinces in China, along with Xinjiang, where the Chinese government places restrictions on reporters' access. Government permission is required for foreign media to enter Tibet and Xinjiang, and CNN has not received permission to go in.
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