There are reports of more protests inside Tibet. According to eyewitnesses, yesterday in Lhasa, Chinese police fired tear gas at more than 500 monks from Drepung who were marching and chanting “We want an independent Tibet!” and “Free our people or we won’t go back.” The Guardian is calling the Drepung protest as “the biggest protest against Chinese rule in twenty years.” The Independent is saying the global protests over the past few days are a “reminder to China that the world has not forgotten Tibet, pointing out that it “has been decades since calls for greater independence in Tibet have been so vocal.”
But the most moving thing that I have read so far is this account of two tourists in Lhasa on March 10th who witnessed the demonstration and arrest of the monks in the Bharkor. It brought up such a feeling of pain and sadness in the pit of my stomach. In the midst of all the excitement and success of the protests we’ve been working on the past few days, this brought home to me the reality of the situation in Tibet once again and the injustice there. You can see their footage of the aftermath in the Bharkor below.
The Chinese are nothing but thugs in Tibet. They rule only through fear. And yet, they are afraid of Tibetans. They know, the minute they remove the guns from the backs of our people’s heads, it’s over.
The World should stop buying anything that comes from China, even stop eating chinese food, and of course do not attend the Olympics. China is a big country but still needs the rest of the world. lets unifiy our voices for a FREE TIBET.
I don’t think the problem is with the Chinese people, the problem is with the Chinese government. We must seperate the Chinese people from their government.
The same government does not grant freedoms to Han Chinese either. We cannot talk about freedom for Tibet and Xinjiang in isolation of freedom for Shanghai or Shenzhen.
Chinese people are not our enemies, we have to make that clear. There is no way we can succeed without the cooperation of the ordinary Chinese people.
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