“No torch in Tibet!” reads the banner suspended from this Parisian bridge by protesters during the march of the Olympic torch, which makes its way to Beijing this summer.
Apr 082008
Mar 272008
Comments by Robbie Barnett, Tibet expert at Columbia University, March 27, 2008, regarding the recent major protests in Tibetan-populated rural areas, especially the temporary takeovers of government buildings and taking down of Chinese flags and raising of Tibetan flags: Continue reading »
Mar 272008
From a Hunan man on the RFA Mandarin call-in program Listener Hotline, March 27:
The Tibet issue is analogous to forcing a woman to marry a man. The man may give the woman food, clothing, and shelter, but material things cannot replace spiritual values. She is a human being. The Dalai Lama is the rightful leader of the Tibetan people. He is like a parent to them, and yet the Chinese government vilifies him and kicked him out of his own home. Stability based on force cannot last. Continue reading »
Mar 252008
The recent protests by Tibetans come amid growing calls among Chinese intellectuals for dialogue with the Dalai Lama, whom Beijing accuses of conspiring to split the motherland by secretly orchestrating the March 15 protests and riots in the Tibetan capital Lhasa, during which armed police opened fire on Tibetans, and where house-to-house searches and arrests are still continuing.
Sun Wenguang, a retired professor of eastern China’s Shandong University said the authorities were wrong to suppress the Tibetan protests using force.
“To crack down on the protests, especially to open fire, is a crime. Continue reading »
Mar 252008
The following quotations are garnered from recent reporting by RFA’s Mandarin and Cantonese services on the situation in Tibetan areas of China:
RFA Cantonese interviewed Ms Zhou (a Tibetan) Tuesday. During the interview, at about 2 pm local time, she said there were about 200 protesters including monks from monasteries in the area, protesting in the town. They were calling for Tibetan freedom and independence. Some local residents were joining the demonstrations. They clashed with large numbers of armed police on arriving at the county government buildings. Continue reading »
Mar 212008
The following is a selection of comments from listeners who have called hotlines run by RFA’s Mandarin and Cantonese services since the Tibet unrest began. Some of the comments were made before China admitted to opening fire on anti-Chinese protests in Tibetan areas of Sichuan:
A Shanxi man called RFA Mandarin’s Listener Hotline:
“Tibetan cultural traditions have largely been destroyed. The railway enabled even more Han Chinese to go to Tibet; as a result, it has had a big impact on the environment and customs of Tibet… Continue reading »
Mar 192008
Quotes from Ding Xiao’s report, March 19 – 中国境内藏族学生全面受控 藏区不准离校引发冲突
In Maerkang county, Gansu province, an ethnic Han teacher at the Maerkang Normal College told Mandarin reporter Ding Xiao that beginning March 15th Tibetan students who live on campus have been forbidden from returning to their homes in the rural area, and that some had protested against the policy and clashed with campus security.
He said: “The Tibetan students at the Maerkang Normal College – their homes and parents are in Ngaba prefecuture (in Chinese, Aba). They heard some rumors and wanted to go back home. The school stopped them from going, saying that it would be safer on campus. Continue reading »
Mar 192008
Huang Xiaomin, a Han Chinese activist in Chengdu, told Mandarin reporter Xinyu: “All major thoroughfares leading to the Tibet Autonomous Region’s office in Chengdu are manned by riot police and also armed police sitting in cars waiting. I walked around the neighborhood and saw no fewer than 60 vehicles, including mini vans and cars, with tags indicating that they were from public security. All cars traveling toward the direction of the TAR office are subject to inspection. Car trunks are searched. The drivers must get out of the cars and show their IDs. “
Our reporter Xinyu called the TAR office in Chengdu to confirm the security checks and was told by the duty officer: “We don’t know about that.”
Mar 182008
From RFA Mandarin service reporter Ding Xiao in Hong Kong:
According to RFA, several Tibetan herdsmen protested in Jiuzhi County, Qinghai province Monday, but some lamas at the local monastery dissuaded them from becoming more radical.
The authorities sent troops to Jiuzhi over night and declared a curfew. A Tibetan in Jiuzhi said: “At first there was a demonstration, then (the Tibetans) destroyed shops. Lamas came over to persuade them not to riot. All participants were Tibetan herdsmen, about two or three hundred.”
“Police rushed to the scene but the protesters destroyed police car. There is no demonstration today (Tuesday). All demonstrators dispersed last night around six or seven o’clock. The troops arrived at six o’clock this morning. The streets are now full of soldiers. From 6:30 in the morning, (the authorities) banned people from going outside. All stores have been closed and you cannot go shopping.” Continue reading »
Mar 172008
Monday, March 17, 2008
“There are about 2,000 students in the Tibetan studies department of the Central Minorities University in Beijing—about 40 of them staged a silent protest to mourn the people killed or injured in other parts of Tibet. The police came in, and they are being held now in their classrooms.”—Protest participant in Beijing
“The authorities in Madro Gonkar and Taktse, in Phenpo, have closed the schools in these areas—after the students protested over the last two days.”—Tibetan in Canada, who spoke with relatives in Tibet Continue reading »