The Bloody Shame of a Murderous "Olympic Host" -- Fresh Unrest Erupts in
Tibetan Area of China
Fresh Unrest Erupts in Tibetan Area of China
Reuters
Apr 04, 2008
http://en.epochtimes.com/news_images/2008-4-4-aaabet80516837xx.jpg
Tibetan student Pema-Tetin shouts "Free Tibet Now" as he is joined by
Filipino activists staging a protest at the Chinese consulate in Manila
on April 4, 2008 to protest the military crackdown in Tibet. (Jay
Directo/AFP/Getty Images)
BEIJING¡ªFresh protests broke out in a Tibetan area of southwest China,
defying a huge security crackdown there, even as officials in Tibet
vowed swift, harsh punishment for those who sparked the initial
anti-Chinese unrest.
The latest protest to shake Tibetan areas of China occurred on Thursday
night in Donggu Town****p, Ganzi (Garze) Prefecture, a largely ethnic
Tibetan area in Sichuan Rrovince's mountainous western regions, Chinese
Communist Party-controlled Xinhua news agency re****ted late on Friday.
"Police were forced to fire warning shots and put down the violence," an
official with the prefectural government said.
The re****t did not explain the cause of the unrest or whether it
involved ethnic Tibetans, who have been protesting against China's
invasion, occupation, and increasing repression in Tibet, and calling
for the return of the exhiled Buddhist leader, the Dalai Lama.
Ganzi and neighbouring Aba in Sichuan province have seen torrid
confrontation between Tibetan protesters and police in past weeks.
Anti-riot troops have poured into the area.
The widespread unrest began in Lhasa, the capital of neighbouring Tibet
province, and there officials on Friday vowed quick trials for those
behind the unrest.
Lhasa was last month hit by Buddhist monks' protests against Chinese
rule that gave way to deadly rioting on March 14, and since then
security forces have poured in to reimpose control there and in other
restive Tibetan areas.
China says 19 people died in the Lhasa violence but representatives of
the Dalai Lama say some 140 people died in the unrest across Tibet and
nearby areas.
For full coverage please see Repression in Tibet
Chinese officials have accused the Dalai Lama of organising the unrest
to press for Tibetan independence ahead of the Beijing Olympic Games in
August, and vowed to come down hard on rioters and on protesters
sup****ting him.
The Dalai Lama has repeatedly denied the accusations and said he wants
true autonomy, but not outright independence, for Tibet.
Chinese Regime Instigates Violence
By James Fish
Epoch Times Staff
Evidence demonstrates that the Chinese communist regime in Beijing is
using agents provocateurs to set off violent outbreaks in otherwise
peaceful demonstrations in Tibet. The Chinese regime is using these
staged violent incidents to justify increasing violent military
repression and a blockade of media re****ts from Tibet.
Tibetan monks began demonstrating against Chinese communist repression
and cultural genocide on the 49th anniversary of an uprising against the
Chinese communist invasion and occupation of Tibet.
Possibly because China has come under so much international scrutiny
since the start of the Olympics, the monks, soon joined by Tibetans
around the world, continued their demonstrations despite increased
police and military repression. Tibetans in China even staged limited
demonstrations to sup****t their countrymen.
Some protests turned violent, and many Tibetans were beaten and shot; as
with the Tiananmen Massacre of 1989, the Chinese regime denied all such
re****ts, despite photographic evidence.
Recently, individuals from Britain's GCHQ, the government communications
agency that monitors global electronic communications, revealed that
intercepted communications sup****ted claims by the Dalai Lama and others
that Chinese soldiers, dressed as monks, staged violent incidents at
demonstrations to allow the CCP to bring in extra military forces from
China, to suppress the demonstrations.
Photographs taken in Tibet, sup****ted by eyewitness accounts, pinpoint
incidents of undercover policemen inciting violence at peaceful rallies.
Courts Back Crackdown
The region's courts have made clear that they will back the crackdown,
hand out tough verdicts and reinforce the government's campaign against
the Dalai Lama.
Tibet's top law-and-order official Baima Chilin told judges to "use the
weapon of the law to attack enemies, punish crime, protect the people
and maintain stability," the Tibet Daily re****ted.
"Use trial according to the law of all the criminals to shock
criminality and root out the base of the separatists. Use ample evidence
to expose to the world the Dalai clique's lies of peace and non-violence."
Baima Chilin ordered swift trials and said the judges "have the
confidence of the Party."
The United States and many European countries have expressed worry about
the tensions, calling on Beijing to open dialogue with the Dalai Lama,
winner of the Nobel Peace Prize, and allow foreign re****ters and
observers to freely visit Tibet.
The United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, Louise Arbour,
held "private discussions" with Chinese officials on Tibet and raised
access to the region, her spokesman said on Friday.
"The issue of accessibility is obviously paramount because without that
it's very hard to come to any conclusions about what has happened or
what should happen next," Arbour's spokesman Rupert Colville told a news
briefing in Geneva.
Chinese officials and state media have criticised Western news re****ts
of the Tibetan unrest, claiming they have misrepresented violence as
peaceful protest, vilified efforts to develop Tibet, and echoed false
claims of independence advocates.
Re****ts written by Tibetans tell a story quite different from the
Chinese'regime's Party line. Tsering Woeser, a noted Tibetan writer
currently under house arrest in Beijing, has collected and published
re****ts in her blog that tell of widespread police brutality, and
soldiers shooting demonstrators at will. (Please see A Record of the
Tibetan Unrest: March 26¡ªMarch 29 and A Record of the Tibetan Unrest:
March 10¡ªMarch 25 )
Tibetan site Phayul.com posted photographs of Tibetans dead from Chinese
gunshot wounds while the Chinese regime's media were denying that anyone
had been hurt.
Chinese Communist Party leaders made similar claims of no, and then low,
military killings regarding the Tiananmen Massacre of 1989. At first the
CCP denied that any students had been killed, and that the only
casualties were soldiers attacked by students. Despite video and
photographic evidence, the CCP leader****p held to this claim for years,
finally admitting that as many as a few hundred civilians might have
been killed or injured.
Eyewitness accounts coupled with photo and video evidence puts the
number of dead at, at least, 3,000.
Additional re****ting by James Fish
|
