Tibet and Beijing Face Off
A Week of Tibetan Protests Culminates in Chinese Govt. Crackdown
China told protesters they had until midnight tonight to turn themselves in or face "harsh consequences." Now, Tibet and surrounding areas are being sealed off.
Earlier today, in a desperate attempt to clamp down on the outbreak of violent protests in Tibet, the Chinese government declared that rioters who turned themselves in before midnight would receive less harsh treatment than those that resisted.
Well, that deadline has come and gone, and now Beijing is sealing Tibet off from international scrutiny, forcing out foreign media and blocking foreign media Web sites. At a time when Beijing needs to maintain its image to the international community in the lead-up to the Olympics, censorship is an appealing option in doing just that.
Thousands of People's Liberation Army troops flooded the streets of Lhasa, the Tibetan capital, yesterday under orders to use "whatever force necessary" in order to quell the protests, according the Associated Press. And while troops had been armed with batons, now they're carrying AK47 rifles. Casualty rates are inconclusive; the Chinese claim at least 16 dead, but the exiled Tibetan government tallies more than 80. Until the dust settles and China reopens access to Tibet to foreign media, there will be no way of knowing for certain.
The protests began Monday, March 10 by monks from Lhasa's main monasteries in reference to the 1959 uprising that led to the Dalai Lama fleeing Tibet. By Friday, the protests turned violent -- the first time in nearly 20 years that Beijing has had to handle violence from Tibetans.
A police station, a market and several houses in Aba, a county in southwestern Sichuan province, were destroyed yesterday by about 200 protesters throwing petrol bombs at the structures. Han Chinese and Hui Muslims have been the marked targets of Tibetan attacks.
To counter the protests and riots, the Chinese government has produced propaganda attributing the mayhem to Dalai Lama supporters, providing graphic detail of the violence with little or no explanation for the anti-Chinese outbursts. In Tibet, it is illegal to own any image of the Dalai Lama, and searches were conducted earlier in the week leading to arrests for the possession of such images. Still, many Tibetans express wishes for the Dalai' Lama's return.
The Dalai Lama did not condone the violence, but did not call for the end of the protests, either. Rather, he emphasized the need for peaceful protest.
"Whether intentionally or unintentionally," he said, "some kind of cultural genocide is taking place," the Independent reported. A sharp increase of Chinese migration into Tibetan areas has occurred since July 2006, and people who do not speak Chinese, particularly those who are practicing Buddhists, have found it increasingly difficult to secure jobs and maintain a cultural presence in those areas.
Despite the protests, Beijing has assured the international community that it is fit to still host the Olympic Games in 2008. Tibetan supporters around the world have vocalized their concern: "The world is watching," Anne Holmes, director of the London-based Free Tibet Campaign, told the Times. "You [Beijing] will be condemned if blood is shed."
