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Contents
There is a dedicated forum for discussion on this topic. Press releases from HH Dalai Lama concerning this issue have been posted. Please stay in close touch with this website for further updates and information. Additional videos have been posted in the forum.
This page was last updated on:
March 22, 2011 01:02:02
Protests in Tibet began on 10 March 2008, known as Tibet Uprising Day, it is the 49th anniversary of the failed Tibetan uprising against Chinese rule. The protests soon shifted from calls for independence to violence, attacks on non-Tibetan ethnic groups, rioting, burning and looting on 14 March. Political tension, socio-economic issues (comparative economic success of non-Tibetan ethnic groups and rising inflation) and anger over rumors of the arrest of monks led to riots. The protests are said to be one of the largest agitation and protests against the Chinese government's rule in 20 years. The unrest happened in the week when major local government leaders were away for the annual National People's Congress in Beijing.
Chinese authorities had prevented foreign and Hong Kong media from entering and reporting on the region since the protests began, with the exception of James Miles, a correspondent from The Economist, who gained approval for a week-long trip which happened to coincide with the increase in tensions.
The Economist noted that the rioting seemed to be fuelled by ethnic, and religious hatred. In recent years, many immigrants have been moving into Lhasa and now own many of the city's small businesses. Ethnic Tibetans in Lhasa are also angered by the inflation that has caused the prices of food, and consumer goods to increase, driving families into the streets. Corpses of the homeless are becoming a relatively common sight. A railway built to link Lhasa to other areas of China was suspected by residents of increasing the number of immigrants in the city, but was accepted because the government claimed that it would control inflation in the city. However, like in other parts of the country, prices have continued to rise, creating more tension between ethnic Tibetans and the Chinese central government.
The 1949 annexation of Tibet by the People's Republic of China and the failed revolt in 1959 continue to generate tensions. While recognized by most countries and the United Nations, the legitimacy of Chinese sovereignty has been questioned by advocates of Tibetan independence. The Dalai Lama has reputedly excluded complete independence from consideration, but has demanded a higher degree of autonomy from Beijing.
Violence and Protests in Lhasa
An eyewitness stated that police cars, fire engines and other official vehicles were set on fire after anger erupted following the police's dispersal of a peaceful demonstration near a small temple in Lhasa. Police used gunfire and tear gas to break up the protest:
"The monks are still protesting. Police and army cars were burned. There are people crying,"
Political and historical boundaries of Tibet.z Tensions in Lhasa have increased as the city's three biggest monasteries were sealed off by thousands of soldiers and armed police amid the largest protests in nearly two decades. Chinese authorities reportedly fired warning shots and used tear gas and electric prods to disperse hundreds of protesters, in addition to detaining up to 50 monks. US embassy officials in Beijing told the Associated Press that U.S. citizens had reported gunfire and rioting in Lhasa. Tibetan exiles quoted in the Times, a London based newspaper, report that at least five people had been killed in police firing by 15 March. According to the BBC and the Wall Street Journal, rioters appeared focused on setting fire to and looting businesses and vehicles owned by Han Chinese, the dominant ethnic group in China, but a small minority in Tibetan areas.
James Miles, in an interview with CNN, made the following assessment,
"What I saw was calculated targeted violence against an ethnic group, or I should say two ethnic groups, primarily ethnic Han Chinese living in Lhasa, but also members of the Muslim Hui minority in Lhasa."
Also according to The Economist:
"The mobs, ranging from small groups of youths (some armed with traditional Tibetan swords) to crowds of many dozens, including women and children, rampaged through the narrow alleys of the Tibetan quarter. They battered the shutters of shops, broke in and seized whatever they could, from hunks of meat to gas canisters and clothing. Some goods they carried away, while other goods were thrown into large fires lit on the street."
Little children could also be seen looting a toyshop as well. The mobs also attacked ethnic Chinese on the streets, including on bus, taxis, and a boy on a bicycle. James Miles reported seeing a Han Chinese teenage boy plead to a monk to help him hide because of the violent mobs around the city.
The Guardian reported that according to an eyewitness account, rioters attacked Han, Muslim Hui and other ethnic minorities. Foreigners were not attacked. With the exception of Tibetan-owned hotels, many other hotels were vandalized and their windows smashed. The foreign eyewitness also reported seeing three rioters stabbing an unconscious man.
China set a March 17 midnight deadline for those involved in the unrest to surrender or face harsh punishment.1
After the Monday deadline, Chinese police announced on loudspeakers that anyone who took part in the violence and gave themselves up would be treated with leniency. Within days of the protest Western tourists emerged from Tibet with graphic descriptions of the level of violence that had occurred. Some claimed that they had seen Chinese people, including the elderly, being beaten and stoned to death by groups of Tibetans, supported by the crowd.
Canadian tourist John Kenwood after coming back from Tibet told The Times about the experience:
"It's hard to pick a side in what happened, I agree that the Tibetans have their own culture, but I can't agree with what people did. After a while, it was not about Tibetan freedom any more."
In the aftermath of the riot, residents appeared to have mixed reactions to the violence. The official Chinese media source Xinhua has reported that on 14 March in Lhasa,
"...rioters injured 623 people including 241 police and armed police and killed 18 others. They also set fire at more than 300 locations, mostly private houses, stores and schools, smashed vehicles and damaged public facilities."
The official Chinese media has published details including names and photographs of some of those they say were killed or injured during the rioting.
Radio Free Asia and the International Campaign for Tibet reported that fresh protests broke out at the Ramoche Temple, situated in the northwest of Lhasa, 29 March 2008, as a 15-member group of diplomats from the United States, Japan and Europe returned to Beijing after a two-day visit to the Tibetan capital.
Gansu Province, 13 March 2008.f Demonstrations by ethnic Tibetans and monks took place in the northwest province of Gansu on Saturday, 15 March 2008. The protests were centered around Gansu's Labrang Monastery, which is one of the largest Tibetan Buddhist monasteries outside of Tibet. Demonstrators marched through the streets of Xiahe, a predominantly Tibetan county in Gansu which surrounds the Labrang Monastery, a region referred to by its traditional name, Amdo Golog, by Tibetans. Up to 5,000 demonstrators were reportedly involved in the Gansu protests.
There were reports of government offices being damaged by the protesters, and police using tear gas and force to break up the demonstrations. Protestors in Gansu claim the protests were peaceful. The Tibetan government-in-exile claims that 19 Tibetan protesters were shot dead on 18 March. China's Xinhua News Agency reported the cost of damage in Gansu at an estimated ¥230 million (US$32.7 million).
Chinese authorities arrested twelve Tibetan monks after an incident in the historic region of Rebkong, which is located in the Huangnan Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture in Qinghai. Chinese security forces supposedly surrounded the Ditsa monastery in Bayan County. Qinghai province borders Tibet and has a large Tibetan population (still known as Amdo to Tibetans).
The Swiss Newspaper Neue Zürcher Zeitung published an account by a foreign journalist who managed to travel in the region of Xining in late March. According to the reports Tibetan teachers are receiving intimidation calls from the Public Security Bureau (PSB), passports belonging to Tibetans are being confiscated to prevent traveling abroad and foreign residents are informed about their possible expulsion in case they get involved in pro-Tibetan activism. Students in the region are receiving one-sided "political teaching". Notwithstanding, Tibetan students of the Medical University of Xining have held demonstrations to express their solidarity with the demonstrators and victims in Lhasa.
In a traditionally Tibetan area called Kham by Tibetans, Tibetan monks and police clashed 16 March in Ngawa county after the monks staged a protest, killing at least one policeman, and setting fire to three or four police vans. The India-based Tibetan Center for Human Rights and Democracy claimed at least seven people have been shot dead; however the claim could not be independently confirmed. There are claims that police shot between 13 and 30 protesters after a police station was set on fire, however reports of deaths are impossible to verify because of the restrictions on journalists.
Authorities and security forces in the city of Chengdu, the capital of Sichuan, have locked down a Tibetan neighborhood. The neighborhood is located near the Southwest University for Nationalities and the Wuhou Temple. The crackdown comes amid unconfirmed reports of Tibetan protests in that section of Chengdu and a stabbing attack on a Han Chinese man by a Tibetan earlier in the week. Cars and other vehicles are not allowed to drive through the neighborhood, which has a large police presence. The Foreign Correspondents Club of China has reported that Chinese authorities have hindered efforts to report from the bases in Chengdu about Tibetan areas of the province.
On 21 March, 27 nuns of the Kirty monastery in Aba county were arrested by Chinese military forces. The information was confirmed by the Swiss newspaper Neue Zürcher Zeitung after speaking with locals in the region via phone. Troops also blocked roads in nearby Sertar. The London-based Free Tibet Campaign reported that troops had been sent to the county after residents blew up a bridge near the village of Gudu. Arrests have also been reported from Sertar after security forces cracked down on protests.
On 25 March, Chinese state media citing local authorities reported that one police officer was killed as fresh protests erupted in the Tibetan part of Sichuan. The Xinhua news agency said police were "forced to fire warning shots" and had "dispersed the lawless mobsters." The Tibetan Centre for Human Rights and Democracy reported that one Tibetan protester had been shot dead by Chinese Police and another was critically injured.
According to Times Online, in the Central University for Nationalities in Beijing, around 100 ethnic Tibetan students organized a sit-in protest in solidarity with the protesters in the historic area of Tibet. Police cordoned off the area, but did not take action against the participants, who sat silently in a circle in the center of the university campus. The Times reported that students of Tibetan ancestry at schools in Beijing are required to submit written papers specifying their feelings for the Dalai Lama, providing details of their parents, giving details of their own identity card and a written statement guaranteeing not to take part in political activities.
On Thursday, 20 March in Vienna several Tibetans intruded the Embassy of China in Austria, taking off the Chinese national flag, and damaging the Embassy facility. The Ambassador requested an urgent meeting with Foreign Affair Officers of Austria, and protested that the local police was unable to protect the Embassy.
Seven pro-Tibet activists were arrested on Saturday, 15 March in Sydney during a chaotic clash with police outside the consulate.
On Monday, 10 March 2008, several Tibetans entered a neighboring property and climbed onto the building of the Consulate General of China in Toronto, Ontario, and replaced the Chinese national flag with the Tibetan flag. Some of the protestors were later detained by the local police. The Consulate General stated that such action violated Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations and Vienna Convention on Consular Relations. On Thursday, 20 March 2008, between 200 and 1000 gathered at Parliament Hill in Ottawa, Ontario in peaceful protest in favor of the Tibetan people. The Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper and a dozen other Ministers of Parliament immediately spoke out in support of the protesters. On Sunday 23 March 2008, several hundred Tibetans and supporters protested in downtown Toronto, Ontario.
A pro-Tibet rally outside the Chinese embassy in Paris, 16 March.a z Tear gas was deployed by local riot police in Paris, France on Sunday, 16 March where over 2,500 protesters gathered outside of Chinese embassy on Paris's chic avenue George V. Protesters fought against the police with chains, sticks, pipes, etc., turning the originally peaceful demonstration into a riot. A demonstrator managed to climb the building and remove the Chinese flag, replacing it with the Tibetan flag. 27 people were in police custody, and several people were sent to emergency rooms, with varying degrees of injuries. Over US$200,000 in damages to property were reported destroyed, including tipped and burned cars, mo-peds, and two small local shops.
Tibetans in Germany stormed the Chinese Consulate in Munich on Monday, 17 March. Protesters set the Chinese flag on fire and sprayed slogans including "Save Tibet" and "Stop Killing" on the front door. 26 were detained by local police.
On 24 March 2008, during the Olympic torch lighting ceremony in Olympia, a French activist of the French based group Reporters Without Borders managed to breach the security and tried to unfurl a banner behind China's Olympic chief Liu Qi who was making his speech at the moment. The protester was quickly removed by security personnel. Later on, as the torch relay began, another Tibetan woman covered herself with red paint and lay on the ground, forcing torchbearers to weave around her as other protesters shouted "Flame of shame." The Greek government condemned the incident.
In Budapest, about 200 people held a protest at the Chinese Embassy. They chanted pro-Tibet slogans, threw rocks and paint-sacks at the building and broke one of its windows. Police arrested two protesters.
In Reykjavík, police protected the Chinese Embassy as roughly forty protesters peacefully protested outside, chanting pro-Tibet slogans and waving flags. Numerous Tibetan refugees participated in the protest. The steps leading up to the Chinese Embassy were covered in red paint by a protester, and three members of the political youth organization Ungir Jafnağarmenn attempted to deliver a letter of disapproval to the Chinese Embassy, which was closed prior to their arrival and surrounded by the police.
Tibetans living in the Indian state of Meghalaya closed their businesses and staged demonstrations to protest the Chinese crack down in Tibet. Hundreds of Tibetan exiles in India marched from the town of Dharamsala to the Indo-Chinese border, to mark their protest against Chinese occupation of Tibet. Indian authorities arrested more than 100 Tibetan protesters. Indian police also arrested a dozen Tibetan exiles attempting to storm the Chinese embassy in New Delhi.
In Rome, several hundred Tibetans and Italians held a peaceful candlelight vigil outside the Chinese Embassy.
In Tokyo, over 100 Tibetans living in Japan and members of a Japanese group supporting Tibetans in exile marched in Tokyo's Yoyogi Park, shouting slogans of protest against China on 16 March. It was originally planned as a part of the torch relay for Tibetan Olympics 2008. On 22 March 2008 over 900 Tibetan exiles and Japanese supporters protested in Roppongi, Tokyo.
A small group of Lithuanians held a peaceful protest in front of China's embassy in Vilnius on 17 March.
Katmandu, 10 March 2008.f 44 Tibetan exiles were arrested by Nepali police in Kathmandu on Monday. Police used bamboo batons and tear gas to break up protests outside a UN complex in the latest crackdown on pro-Tibet demonstrations in Nepal. The protesters insisted they were protesting peacefully.
The Hague, 10 March 2008.e In The Hague, about 400 protesters attempted to storm the Chinese consulate. They managed to take down the Chinese flag and replace it with the Tibetan flag.
South Korea
In Insadong, several citizens gathered for a protest against the Chinese government. Many of them were from one group in particular, called "Friends of Tibet" (티베트의 친구들)
Swiss police fired tear-gas at pro-Tibet demonstrators who tried to storm the Chinese consulate in Zurich.
Protesters in London placed placards upon Terracotta Warriors on loan to the British Museum for an exhibition. On 22 March 2008 Tibetan exiles and British supporters protested in London. Security for the Olympic torch relay due to arrive in the UK in April 2008 has been enhanced over fears that it will be hijacked by protesters.
A pro-Tibet rally in Seattle, 15 March 2008.c z
A pro-Tibet rally outside the Chinese consulate in San Francisco, 17 March 2008.b z In New York City, more than 100 persons staged a protest outside the United Nations Headquarters. The New York City Police Department said they arrested six pro-Tibet protesters trying to enter the building.
In Washington, D.C., two dozen people protested outside the Chinese embassy on March 21.
The Tibetan activist group International Campaign for Tibet, with offices in Washington D.C., Amsterdam and Berlin, feared, on 28 March 2008, for the welfare and whereabouts of Tibetan monks who protested at a stage-managed media tour for foreign journalists at the Jokhang Temple, on 27 March 2008, by shouting there was no freedom in the riot-torn regions of Lhasa- Sera Monastery, Drepung Monastery and Ganden Monastery- and a fourth, Ramoche Temple.
The vice-governor of Tibet, Baima Chilin, later told reporters the monks would not be punished.
About 300 monks from Drepung Monastery on the outskirts of Tibet's capital, Lhasa, peacefully march toward Barkhor Street in the central city, but Chinese People's Armed Police stop them before they reach the city. Police arrest monks suspected to be ringleaders. Fifteen monks from Sera Monastery near Lhasa, joined by two civilians, lead a peaceful pro-Tibet march from Tsuklakhang Temple, proclaiming pro-independence slogans, distributing pamphlets, and raising the banned Tibetan national flag at Barkhor Street. They are arrested immediately following brief protests. Twenty local Chinese officials convene a meeting of monks from Ditsa Monastery in Qinghai, but 70 monks walk out carrying a portrait of the Dalai Lama and shouting pro-independence slogans.2
The protests had spread further into China including the provinces of Qinghai and Gansu, both having large Tibetan minority populations and fall within the historic borders of Tibet. Chinese police fired tear gas into a group of 600 Buddhist monks, demanding the release of protestors arrested the previous day. In Xiahe, Gansu province, several dozen Buddhist monks march and are photographed waving the outlawed Tibetan flag.1 Lhasa city authorities cancel leaves for all government employees.2
Monks from Gaden Monastery, about 30 miles east of Lhasa, launch a protest. Police surround and seal off the monastery.2Indian police arrest 100 Tibetan exiles, on 13 March, attempting to march into their homeland to join the protest against Chinese rule. The state- controlled Chinese media report that the situation in Lhasa is stable and blames 'a few monks' for attempting to incite unrest.1 Two monks from Kirti monastery in Sichuan Province stab themselves in the chest, hands and wrists. A reporter for Radio Free Asia says they were protesting the arrest of 17 people in the Sera Monastery protest Monday. RFA says the two monks are in critical condition and not expected to survive. Other monks from Sera Monastery are staging a hunger strike to protest the arrests. Police arrest around 500 students from Tibet University.2
Lhasa, 14 March 2008.b A protest of more than 100 Buddhist monks escalated into a riot involving more than 900 people. A Tibetan source says Chinese police fired live ammunition into the crowd- a claim denied by Chinese authorities. In Xiahe, monks lead a rally of more than 4,000 people; Xiahe is the location of one of Tibetan Buddhism's most important monasteries- Labrang.1 Monks from Ramoche Temple attempt to hold a protest march, but police block streets and prevent the demonstration. Laypeople join in and scuffles break out. There are reports of protesters setting fire to vehicles, shops and a main market in Lhasa.2
The Chinese media reported that 10 people died in the Lhasa unrest. Tibetan political and security officials held an emergency meeting in Dharamsala, India (location of the Central Tibetan Administration, the Tibetan government in exile), in response to the violence. United States Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice urges China to exercise restraint in the matter.1
The Dalai Lama, Tibet's spiritual leader, and head of Tibet's government in exile, accused China of a 'rule of terror' in Tibet. On that same day, Tibet Daily, the official state controlled newspaper, quoted top regional officials calling for China to wage a 'People's War' on Tibetan separatists. Protestors in Europe, Australia and the US hold rallies to oppose China's crackdown on the protests. Many call for a boycott of the 2008 Beijing Olympics.1
China's crackdown against Tibetan protesters has reportedly spread neighboring provinces. Details of the protests, and Beijing's response, have been hard hard to come by due to efforts by China to stem the flow of news from the affected region. Tibet's exiled spiritual leader, the Dalai Lama, has called on the international community to investigate whether cultural genocide has taken place. He accused China of relying on force to achieve peace.3
Chinese authorities raised the official death toll to 13, saying rioters burned or hacked to death 'innocent civilians' during the unrest. Tibet's government in exile claims 100 confirmed dead, adding hundreds more may have died. Later that day, China set a midnight deadline for those involved in the unrest to surrender or face harsh punishment.1
At a news conference in Dharamsala, India, the Dalai Lama said he was opposed to the use of violence against China's rule. "Violence is almost suicide," he said. "Even if 1,000 Tibetans sacrifice their lives, it will not help." However, he acknowledges that many radical Tibetans have criticized his policy of non-violence, and says that his only option is to "completely resign" if the bloodshed continues.4
China turns foreigners back from areas close to Tibet and says that about 160 Lhasa rioters have given themselves up to authorities. Olympic organizers vow the Olympic torch will travel to Tibet despite the deadly riots.
China arrests 24 suspects charged with "grave crimes" in Lhasa, and reports that four protesters were shot and wounded by police in a Tibetan community in Sichuan province earlier in the week. Troops block roads in Kangding, Sichuan, a town with a large Tibetan population. In Nepal, riot police detain at least 20 Tibetan protesters, including monks, to stop an anti-China march to the United Nations office in Kathmandu.
Tibetans in southwest Sichuan province say they believe several people were killed in anti-Chinese riots in Aba prefecture when police fired on protesters.
The Chinese government claimed that the Dalai Lama is cooperating with Islamic extremists as part of a plot to bring the country into crises before the Beijing Olympic Games, in August 2008. The state run news agency, Xinhua, claimed that "the Dalai Lama is scheming to take the Beijing Olympics hostage to force the Chinese government to make concessions to Tibet independence."
In Olympia, Greece, during the Olympic torch lighting ceremony for the Beijing Olympic Games, a group from the organization, Reporters Without Borders, compromised security and unfurled a banner depicting the Olympic Rings as handcuffs. The banner was waved behind Liu Qi, president of the Beijing Organizing Committee and a former mayor of Beijing, delivered a speech.
Tibetan exiles in India claim China has clamped down on information flow from Tibet including e-mails and cell phone calls. It was these resources the exiles had mostly relied upon since 10 March for accounts of the Chinese military crackdown on Tibetan protesters. The exiles report since the information clampdown and foreign media was stopped from visiting Tibet, e-mails and phone calls are mostly going unanswered, while Chinese authorities continue to arrest demonstrators.
The Tibetan Centre for Human Rights and Democracy in India, citing previous phone calls, reports and photographs, claim a lot more than the official Chinese figure have been killed. Center director Urgen Tenzin reports even when phone calls to Tibet are answered, "people are saying, 'Don't call. It's too dangerous.'"5French President Nicolas Sarkozy left open the possibility that he might not attend the opening ceremony of the Beijing Olympics because of the way China has handled unrest in Tibet. Speaking at a joint news conference with British Prime Minister Gordon Brown, Sarkozy said whether he went or not would depend on how the situation in Tibet evolved and on consultations with other European countries.
China offered to pay compensation to the families of the civilians it says died in violence in the Tibetan capital this month as Beijing kept up an intense propaganda campaign in the wake of the unrest. Anyone injured in the chaos that engulfed in Lhasa after days of Buddhist monk-led demonstrations was entitled to free medical care, the state-run Xinhua news agency reported4
Diplomats from 15 embassies, including those of the United States, Britain, France and Japan, arrived in the Tibetan capital for a hastily arranged one-day tour after a demand for unfettered access to the riot-torn city.6
China offered to pay compensation to the families of the civilians it says died in violence in the Tibetan capital this month, as Beijing kept up an intense propaganda campaign in the wake of the unrest. Pressure grew from abroad for China to respect human rights in its response to continuing pockets of unrest over the past two weeks in Tibet and neighboring areas, with U.S. President George W. Bush calling on Chinese leaders to talk to representatives of Tibet's exiled spiritual leader, the Dalai Lama.6
According to The Guardian correspondent Tania Branigan, the government has blocked foreign broadcasters and websites and denied journalists access to areas of unrest. Initially, the response was to ignore and then play down protests. However, by Friday, 14 March, TV channels aired hours of anti-Chinese riots in Lhasa and the aftermath. Employees at the state television service CCTV's English service were instructed to keep broadcasting footage of burned-out shops and Chinese wounded in attacks. No footages of demonstrators acting peacefully were shown.
Video sharing websites like YouTube, the entire The Guardian website, portions of the Yahoo! portal, and sections of The Times website have all been restricted.
Yahoo! China have published "most wanted" poster across its homepage to help China police to catch 24 Tibetans. MSN! China has published the same list as well.
China's Communist Party newspaper, the People's Daily, called on the government to "resolutely crush" Tibetan demonstration against Chinese rule. The People's Daily also accused the Dalai Lama and the Central Tibetan Administration of orchestrating the protests in its commentary.
Chinese newspaper China Daily reported that there has been bias in Western media's coverage of the rioting in Tibet, especially in the captioning and cropping of images. The newspaper pointed out Western media sources such as Washington Post used pictures of baton-wielding Nepalese police in clashes with Tibetan protesters in Kathmandu, claiming that the officers were Chinese police. The article stated that Chinese netizens were angered by what they saw "biased and sometimes dishonest" reporting by Western media. CNN's John Vause, who reported this story, responded the criticism as "...technically it was impossible to include the crashed car on the left..."
On 24 March 2008, the German TV news channel RTL disclosed that one photograph depicting rioters had been erroneously captioned. Separately, another German station, n-tv, admitted that it had mistakenly aired footage from Nepal during a story on Chinese riots.
Agence France-Presse (AFP) and Deutsche Welle (DW) reported that the Chinese government has allowed a small group of foreign journalists on a tour of Tibet. These reporters includes those from the American Wall Street Journal, USA Today, Britain's Financial Times, Japan's Kyodo News Agency, KBS of South Korea, and Arab broadcaster Al-Jazeera. The Chinese government organized the three-day media trip to counteract what it called biased Western reporting on the crisis. AFP further reported that Chinese students abroad have set up a website, namely Anti-CNN, to collect evidence of "one-sided and untrue" foreign reporting. Media companies accused of "falsified reporting" include CNN, FOX, the Times Online, Sky News, Spiegel Online and the BBC. Spiegel Online has rejected the accusations in an article.
On 27 March in Lhasa, a protest by a group of monks from the Jokhang Monastery disrupted a media tour organized by Chinese authorities through Lhasa with a short protest. The monks shouted that there was no religious freedom [in Tibet] and that the Dalai Lama was not to blame for Lhasa's recent violence. The tour was the first opportunity given to selected foreign journalists to enter Tibet after the de facto ban on foreign reporters. The delegation was composed of journalists from the Wall Street Journal, the Financial Times, USA Today, the Arabic news station Al-Jazeera and the Associated Press. The journalists were selected by the Chinese authorities and were kept under close control while in Lhasa. The authorities blamed the limited number of journalists permitted to attend and the restrictions on their movement on logistic considerations.
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Any source not otherwise specified is from:z-
a- Philippe Semanaz
b- Peter
c- Mark Ordonez
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e- , Myra de Rooy
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