By Ariel Lin
Impunity Watch Reporter, Asia

BEIJING, China – China has shutdown several of the world’s most popular websites in an apparent attempt to censor international coverage of the violence in Lhasa, the Tibetan capital. The Google-owned YouTube, the video-sharing website blocked in China on Sunday after footage of recent deadly protests in Tibet appeared on the site.  Some videos on YouTube show a public gathering, including Tibetan monks in their distinctive saffron robes and peaceful marching.  The most hits video (over 80,000 so far) actually shows bodies on the streets, protesters throwing rocks at Chinese army vehicles and other images.

Popular news sites reporting on the riots, such as CNN, The Guardian, the BBC, Google News, and Yahoo have allegedly had all or parts of their sites blocked. Flickr, the photo-sharing website, Wikipedia, and the LA Times, the US newspaper, are among the other sites to which access has been cut off.  These websites have been subject to what is known as ‘keyword filtering’, where a Chinese internet user attempting to load a page which contains words such as ‘Tibet’ or ‘Dalai Lama’ or ‘riot’ will see the site stall.

Foreign journalists being denied access and foreign tourists ordered out of the city.  Foreign media have been banned from Tibet, CNN and British Broadcasting Corp. broadcasts of a speech by the Dalai Lama were also blocked, the newspaper said.  According to a CNN video, says the station has not been able to send a team to report the news.  Some stations, such as the BBC, picked up photos and other contributions from tourists in Tibet. The BBC and CNN are only broadcast within international hotels and diplomatic compounds in China.

China strictly controls access to information, the only footage broadcast by state-run media so far has been a short clip showing Tibetan rioters in the city destroying Chinese shops, but nothing has been released on the resulting crackdown by police.

For more information, please see:

AP – China Blocks YouTube Over Tibet Videos – 16 March 2008

AFP – YouTube access blocked in China after Tibet clips appear – 16 March 2008

CNN – American film crew kept from China protests – 17 March 2008

Guardian – China blocks media due to Tibet unrest – 17 March 2008

Times Online – China blocks YouTube, Yahoo! Over Tibet – 17 March 2008

BEIJING, China – In a news conference on Sunday the Dalai Lama, who is exiled in India and the Tibetan spiritual leader, accused China of waging “cultural genocide” against Tibetan monks and called for an investigation into the suppression of protests. “Whether intentionally or unintentionally, some kind of cultural genocide is taking place,” the Dalai Lama said, referring to China’s policy of encouraging members of the ethnic Han majority to migrate to the region. “It’s really desperate,” he told the BBC. “Things become tense as the Tibetan side is determined, the Chinese side also equally determined. So that means the result is killing.”  China’s provincial government in Tibet rejected the Dalai Lama’s assertion regarding cultural genocide and said the population enjoys religious freedom.

During the news conference, the Dalai Lama expressed his fear of another crackdown like in the late 1980s, when the Chinese government declared martial law and violently suppressed demonstrations in Tibet.  Under martial law, hundreds Tibetans died.  However, he told reporters he was powerless to stop the protests.  “I do feel helpless,” he said. “I feel very sad, very serious, very anxious. Cannot do anything.”  The Dalai Lama also endorsed the right of his people to press grievances against the Chinese authorities and reminded reporters that he was not calling for secession. “As far as material development concerned, we get much benefit” from being part of China, he said.  He also remained supportive of the Olympic Games being held in China.

The protests began a week ago in Lhasa, the Tibetan capital, and have quickly evolved into the largest outpouring of Tibetan rage against Chinese rule in 20 years.  The Chinese have deployed thousands of troops and rolled out tanks to suppress Tibet protests.  According to Tibet’s government-in-exile, at least 80 people died since protests began last week, which disputes the official death toll of 10.

For more information, please see:

International Herald Tribune – Dalai Lama assails curbs on protest in Tibet – 17 March 2008.

The Independent – Dalai Lama attacks ‘cultural genocide’ – 17 March 2008.

The Seattle Times – Tibet protests spread to other provinces as Dalai Lama warns of “cultural genocide” – 17 March 2008.

By Ariel Lin
Impunity Watch Reporter, Asia

BEIJING, China – The largest demonstrations against the Chinese government in nearly 20 years erupted as Chinese security forces used tear-gas and gunfire to suppress protesters on Friday. Witnesses said angry Tibetan crowds burned shops, cars, military vehicles and at least one tourist bus.  Protesters appeared to be targeting shops and vehicles owned by Han Chinese, the predominant ethnic group in China.  A main market in the capital was set on fire, and some Tibetans were hospitalized with serious injuries, according to Kate Saunders, a spokeswoman for the International Campaign for Tibet.

Violence started when police tried to block a peaceful protest by monks at the Ramoche Temple on Friday, Tashi Choephel of the Tibetan Center for Human Rights told CNN. Witnesses said tanks were in the streets of the Tibetan capital Lhasa as part of a heavy security clampdown after violent riots erupted.  Several people lost their lives and many others were injured in Lhasa, an official at the city’s medical emergency centre told AFP, with Radio Free Asia reporting at least two people had been killed.

China warned Saturday it would use a firm hand to quell protests in Tibet, acknowledging seven people had been killed in unrest. It said seven people were killed in the rioting.  Most of them were business people and none were foreigners.  Independent verification of the news from the region has been difficult to verify because Chinese censors blacked out Western media reports about the developments in Tibet on Chinese television.

Chinese government also accused the Dalai Lama, Tibet’s exiled spiritual leader, of acting as the “mastermind” behind protests.  “The government of Tibet Autonomous Region said there had been enough evidence to prove that the recent sabotage in Lhasa was ‘organized, premeditated and masterminded’ by the Dalai clique,” Xinhua news agency said. “The violence, involving beating, smashing, looting and burning, has disrupted the public order, jeopardized people’s lives and property,” an official with the government said.

The United States, Britain and other European states expressed concern over the violence and urged both sides to show restraint.  The Dalai Lama, who heads Tibet’s government-in-exile in India, called on the Chinese leadership to “stop using force and address the long-simmering resentment of the Tibetan people through dialogue with the Tibetan people.”  He also urges the fellow Tibetans not to resort to violence and rejected allegations that he and his government-in-exile in India were behind the uprising in Lhasa.

For more information, please see:

APF – China says seven killed in Tibet – 14 March 2008

BBC – Deaths reported in Tibet protests – 14 March 2008

BBC – In pictures: Protests in Tibet – 14 March 2008

CNN – A timeline of Tibetan protests – 14 March 2008

CNN – Tibet in turmoil as riots grip capital – 14 March 2008

Press Association – Violence erupts at Tibetan protests – 14 March 2008

By Kristy Tridhavee
Impunity Watch Senior Desk Officer, Asia

NEW DELHI, India – More than 100 Tibetan exiles were arrested in India before embarking on a 6-month march to Tibet. Atul Fulzele, the police superintendent for the Kangra district of Hamachal Pradesh, which is where Dharamasala is located, told reporters that about 100 persons were arrested under criminal codes that allow preventative arrests.

Days earlier the police had issued a restraining order to prevent the marchers from leaving Kangra. Atul Fulzele said, “Today they were planning to move outside the Kangra district. That would have been a crime.” He also added that the marchers did not resist arrest, and there was “no law and order problem.” A government official speaking anonymously commented that “India has other obligations as a country,” which include its commitment to participate in the Beijing Olympics, which prevents India from supporting the march.

Indian police are asking protesters to sign statements that say they will not participate in more protests against China or other political activities. Most are refusing to sign and plan on going on a hunger strike until they are released.

The group intended to begin their march from Dharamasala, the seat of the Tibetan government in exile, to Lhasa, the capital of Tibet. The march was intended to begin on the anniversary of the failed uprising of Tibet in 1959 and end in Lhasa as the Summer Olympics Games opened.

A group of 50 Tibetan exiles in New Delhi were also arrested after they attempted to storm the Chinese embassy. They ran through a security cordon and tried to scale the high walls, but were prevented by security forces. The protesters, who were also mostly nuns and monks, were put in waiting vans and driven to a police station.

Human rights activists are concerned that India’s stance against the protests signals an escalating attitude of repression. Arresting peaceful marchers who were carrying photos of Mahatma Gandhi “signifies a toughness that does not seem legitimate,” said Meenakshi Ganguly, South Asia researcher for Human Rights Watch.

For more information, please see:

International Herald Tribune – 100 Tibetan Exiles Arrested in India – 13 March 2008

International Herald Tribune – Tibetans Defy India in March to Homeland – 11 March 2008

The Inquirer – Tibetans Held in India after Fresh Chinese Embassy Assault – 15 March 2008

By Ariel Lin
Impunity Watch Reporter, Asia

BEIJING, China – The largest demonstrations against the Chinese government in nearly 20 years erupted as Chinese security forces used tear-gas and gunfire to suppress protesters on Friday. Witnesses said angry Tibetan crowds burned shops, cars, military vehicles and at least one tourist bus.  Protesters appeared to be targeting shops and vehicles owned by Han Chinese, the predominant ethnic group in China.  A main market in the capital was set on fire, and some Tibetans were hospitalized with serious injuries, according to Kate Saunders, a spokeswoman for the International Campaign for Tibet.

Violence started when police tried to block a peaceful protest by monks at the Ramoche Temple on Friday, Tashi Choephel of the Tibetan Center for Human Rights told CNN. Witnesses said tanks were in the streets of the Tibetan capital Lhasa as part of a heavy security clampdown after violent riots erupted.  Several people lost their lives and many others were injured in Lhasa, an official at the city’s medical emergency centre told AFP, with Radio Free Asia reporting at least two people had been killed.

China warned Saturday it would use a firm hand to quell protests in Tibet, acknowledging seven people had been killed in unrest. It said seven people were killed in the rioting.  Most of them were business people and none were foreigners.  Independent verification of the news from the region has been difficult to verify because Chinese censors blacked out Western media reports about the developments in Tibet on Chinese television.

Chinese government also accused the Dalai Lama, Tibet’s exiled spiritual leader, of acting as the “mastermind” behind protests.  “The government of Tibet Autonomous Region said there had been enough evidence to prove that the recent sabotage in Lhasa was ‘organized, premeditated and masterminded’ by the Dalai clique,” Xinhua news agency said. “The violence, involving beating, smashing, looting and burning, has disrupted the public order, jeopardized people’s lives and property,” an official with the government said.

The United States, Britain and other European states expressed concern over the violence and urged both sides to show restraint.  The Dalai Lama, who heads Tibet’s government-in-exile in India, called on the Chinese leadership to “stop using force and address the long-simmering resentment of the Tibetan people through dialogue with the Tibetan people.”  He also urges the fellow Tibetans not to resort to violence and rejected allegations that he and his government-in-exile in India were behind the uprising in Lhasa.

For more information, please see:

APF – China says seven killed in Tibet – 14 March 2008

BBC – Deaths reported in Tibet protests – 14 March 2008

BBC – In pictures: Protests in Tibet – 14 March 2008

CNN – A timeline of Tibetan protests – 14 March 2008

CNN – Tibet in turmoil as riots grip capital – 14 March 2008

Press Association – Violence erupts at Tibetan protests – 14 March 2008