[Onthebarricades] TIBET: Global solidarity demonstrations

[Andy]

*  Solidarity protests at the UN and in Sydney, Melbourne, London, 
Kathmandu, Tel Aviv, Bangkok, Ottawa, Delhi and India near the Chinese 
border
*  In Kathmandu police violently suppressed the protests, sparking clashes
*  Repression was also used against protesters in India and Australia
*  Protests then hit the Olympic torch relay in London, Paris and San 
Francisco - the Paris leg was abandoned after the torch was put out, and the 
San Francisco route changed in secret
*  Uighur and Tibetan exiles also protested the torch relay in Turkey and 
India
*  As well as Tibet, Olympic-related protests have targeted China over 
Xinjiang, press freedom, Falun Gong, and Darfur

Publicly Archived at Global Resistance: 
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/globalresistance


http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/03/17/AR2008031702578.html

Far-Flung Tibetans Find Unity In Protest
Identity, Pride Expressed In Quiet Defiance, Anger

Protests Erupt in Support for Tibet
In countries all over the world, protesters took to the streets to oppose 
Chinese rule of Tibet after demonstrations in the province turned violent. 
By Maureen Fan
Washington Post Foreign Service
Tuesday, March 18, 2008; Page A06
LANZHOU, China, March 17 -- A group of Tibetan college students, heads 
downcast, sat silently in the middle of a soccer field Monday as nervous 
officials, teachers and plainclothes security officers watched from the 
sidelines. One official walked onto and off the field, pressing the students 
to return to their dormitories.
On Sunday, about 500 students staged a sit-in here at Northwest 
Nationalities University, following the uprising in Tibet that has rattled 
this country over the past week. About 50 students stayed through the 
night -- an unwelcome display in a country determined to divert attention 
from controversy.
"They're commemorating their family members who have been killed in Lhasa," 
said a student with a knapsack decorated with Tibetan embroidery. "It's not 
convenient to talk now," he added, before slipping a visitor his cellphone 
number.
In provinces outside China's Tibet Autonomous Region, protests have started 
to percolate. Some, like the sit-in here in Lanzhou and another at a 
university in Beijing on Monday, have been quiet vigils that do not directly 
challenge the government. In other cases, Buddhist monks have clashed with 
police, and soldiers have been deployed to quash dissent.
The groundswell of activity suggests that anger over the Chinese 
government's role in Tibet extends far beyond the remote mountainous region, 
particularly to outlying provinces that are home to an estimated 3 million 
ethnic Tibetans. Many resent Beijing's criticism of their spiritual leader, 
the Dalai Lama, and the economic development that has mainly benefited the 
region's Han Chinese, China's dominant ethnic group.
"What we've seen is a revitalization of a sense of shared Tibetan identity 
and cultural and religious pride in the last few days," said Kate Saunders, 
a spokeswoman for the Washington-based International Campaign for Tibet.
Well before Beijing declared Tibet part of China in 1951, the region was 
divided into three parts. The central part resembled what is today the Tibet 
Autonomous Region, where violence in the capital, Lhasa, has led authorities 
to blanket the streets with soldiers this week. Other areas of historical 
Tibet, however, are now part of present-day Gansu, Qinghai, Sichuan and 
Yunnan provinces.
The Tibetans in those provinces live mostly in rural or autonomous areas 
close to monasteries. In the more prosperous cities, they say, they have 
been marginalized by an influx of Han Chinese entrepreneurs, who own 
restaurants passed off as traditionally Tibetan and karaoke bars bedecked 
with Tibetan prayer flags. Chinese also dominate souvenir shops and tour 
guide operations at major monasteries.
In recent days, the roads into those areas have grown thick with army 
convoys. Outsiders have been kept out. Meanwhile, at the Kumbun Monastery on 
the outskirts of Xining, the capital of Qinghai province, police cars were 
conspicuously parked inside and outside the grounds Monday. Many of the 700 
to 800 monks who live and pray there were too frightened to talk to a 
reporter.
"I'm not clear about what happened in Lhasa recently," said one monk 
checking tickets inside. An elderly woman who appeared to work at the 
monastery said in Mandarin, "I don't speak Chinese."
An important Tibetan holiday Saturday added to crowds at the Labrang 
Monastery in Xiahe, a heavily Tibetan area of southwest Gansu province, 
where riot police over the weekend fired tear gas on about 1,000 protesters. 
Monks were no longer holed up inside the monastery Monday, but the streets 
were still full of riot police and army soldiers, witnesses said.
"Yesterday, the government gave notices to all hotels saying that we are not 
allowed to let any foreigners stay," a woman at Xiahe's Hongshi hotel said 
in a telephone interview.
"Many monks and Tibetan people were arrested and injured," said the woman, 
who asked not to be identified for fear of reprisals. "As a Tibetan, we all 
like the Dalai Lama. All of us want to see him, even just one glance. We 
hope he can come back. I support the protesters because they say he should 
come back, but I'm not thinking about Tibetan independence."
Over the weekend, protests spread to Aba county in Sichuan province, where 
witnesses told human rights groups that clashes between monks and police had 
led to seven deaths. On Monday, there were reports of continued protests 
outside a monastery in Tongren county in Qinghai province's heavily Tibetan 
Zang Nan autonomous area, and in Maqu county, an area of Gansu province that 
borders Sichuan.
"It does seem that under modern Chinese rule, and perhaps because of Chinese 
policies such as its anti-Dalai Lama campaign and its aggressive patriotic 
education drives, that Tibetan nationalism has increased and brought more 
sense of shared purpose to Tibetans across the plateau," said Robbie 
Barnett, director of modern Tibetan studies at Columbia University.
"This appears strongly to lend credence to the Dalai Lama's negotiating 
position, which is that all the different Tibetan areas within China should 
be turned into a single administrative entity," Barnett said. "The Chinese 
have condemned this as a splittist plot."
At Northwest Nationalities University here in Lanzhou, the Gansu provincial 
capital, dozens of uniformed police officers patrolled the campus entrances 
Monday. The city's entire police force seemed to have descended on the 
school.
The student with the embroidered backpack, who said his first name was Agu, 
explained that teachers had persuaded most of the students at the sit-in to 
depart. All of the teachers, he said, were Han Chinese.
Another Tibetan student, sitting with friends in the campus cafeteria eating 
noodles and rice porridge, said the sit-in had been "very peaceful."
"They didn't show a flag saying, 'Free Tibet,' and they aren't calling for 
independence," he said.
The student said his first name was Da Ke, a Chinese pronunciation of a 
Tibetan name. "The Dalai Lama is our spiritual and religious leader," he 
said. "We hope he can come back one day. I agree with his ideas that Tibetan 
people should have more freedom."
Correspondent Edward Cody in Beijing and researcher Zhang Jie in Lanzhou 
contributed to this report.

http://afp.google.com/article/ALeqM5j8VJXaP5g-2kzl4Axw0_Q1MPNOcA

Protest in London as Tibet deadline passes
Mar 17, 2008
LONDON (AFP) - More than 100 demonstrators rallied outside the Chinese 
embassy in London on Monday, as a deadline passed for protesters in Tibet to 
surrender or face heavy punishment.
"Free Tibet, stop the killing in Tibet" and "Chinese out" the protesters 
chanted and at one point briefly surged towards the embassy, before being 
kept back by police.
Tashi Gyaltsen, who lives in London after his parents fled Tibet as 
children, said: "We are here to show our support for Tibetans who are 
risking everything to protest.
"As free Tibetans living in the UK, we are very lucky to be able to protest 
without any danger to our lives," added the 31-year-old. "It is so sad --  
Tibetans in Tibet are in the worst situation.
"Everything they do is under restrictions," he said, as the midnight Tibet 
time (1600 GMT) Chinese deadline passed.
Earlier Prime Minister Gordon Brown urged China to show restraint in Tibet, 
while warning that violence there risked tarnishing Beijing's image ahead of 
this year's Olympic Games.
"All of us are concerned about what is happening in Tibet," he told 
lawmakers in the House of Commons.

http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2008/03/15/2190483.htm?section=justin

Three arrested in Sydney during Tibetan protest
Posted Sat Mar 15, 2008 5:32pm AEDT
Updated Sat Mar 15, 2008 8:44pm AEDT
Video: Tibetan protests turn violent in Sydney (ABC News)
Map: Sydney 2000
Three people have been arrested in Sydney during a protest by members of the 
Tibetan community outside the Chinese consulate.
One man was arrested for assaulting a police officer, while three protesters 
scaled the fence of the consulate.
The protesters were demonstrating against the Chinese Government's crackdown 
on protests in Tibet this week.
Despite the arrests, police say the protest organised by the Australian 
Tibetan Council is now under control.

http://www.hindustantimes.com/StoryPage/StoryPage.aspx?id=a05d8401-e36e-41e4-b7e7-77918ba3f616&ParentID=138656db-0d3e-4c8b-a14e-ab55f0e40285&MatchID1=4678&TeamID1=6&TeamID2=3&MatchType1=1&SeriesID1=1179&PrimaryID=4678&Headline=Tibetan+protest+outside+UN+headquarters

Tibetan protest outside UN headquarters

7 people killed in Tibetan capital Lhasa:  Xinhua
March 15, 2008
YOU WERE READING
China says ten killed in Tibetan capital Lhasa
China warns it would use a firm hand to quash the biggest protests in Tibet 
for decades against their rule.
Associated Press
New York, March 15, 2008
First Published: 08:19 IST(15/3/2008)
Last Updated: 13:30 IST(15/3/2008)
Dozens of Tibetans, young and old, held a noisy protest against Chinese rule 
outside the United Nations while President George W Bush was speaking 
elsewhere in Manhattan.
Three demonstrators tried unsuccessfully to enter the UN during the protest 
yesterday and six people were arrested, officials said.
The protesters carried placards and Tibetan flags, bearing dragons and a 
yellow sun with red and blue rays, and shouted "Free Tibet!" "No freedom, no 
peace, no Olympics!" and "Wake up United Nations!"
The spontaneous protest was a smaller, more peaceful version of one in 
Katmandu, Nepal, where police scuffled on yesterday with about 1,000 
protesters, including dozens of Buddhist monks. About 12 monks were injured.
The demonstrations were held in support of monks in Tibet, where flaring 
violence resulted in burned shops and vehicles, and gunshots fired in the 
streets of the capital, Lhasa.

http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/964681.html

Dalai Lama: World must investigate possible cultural genocide in Tibet By 
Ofri Ilani, Haaretz Correspondent and News Agencies Tags: Tibet, China, 
Israel
The Dalai Lama said Sunday that the international community must investigate 
whether cultural genocide has been taking place in Tibet, two days after 
violent street protests against Chinese rule during which 100 people were 
reportedly killed.

The exiled Tibetan spiritual leader added that China was relying on force to 
achieve peace.

He said that the international community had the "moral responsibility" to 
remind China to be a good host for the Olympic Games, but added that China 
deserved to host the games.
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"The Tibet nation is facing serious danger. Whether China admits or not, 
there is a problem," the Dalai Lama told a news conference at his base of 
Dharamsala in northern India.

On Saturday, for about a quarter of an hour, a few dozen Tibetan exiles 
stood in the plaza of the Tel Aviv Cinematheque and sang a lament in memory 
of some 100 kinsmen who were reportedly killed by Chinese authorities during 
demonstrations in Tibet on Saturday.

A few brought Buddhist prayer books. Most of the participants, who are 
attending an agricultural training program in the Arava, have never stepped 
foot in Tibet. They were born in India, in refugee camps for Tibetans in the 
north and south of the country. Saturday they came to Tel Aviv for an event 
organized by the Israeli Friends of the Tibetan People (IFTP) to mark the 
49th anniversary of the March 10, 1959 uprising against the Chinese 
government.

The event was planned a few months ago, but the suppression of the 
demonstrations in Tibet lent it special significance. For Tibetan student 
Sunam Yangchen, the anniversary is connected to her family history. In 1958, 
the Chinese authorities arrested her grandparents and her family was forced 
to flee to India. "They crossed the border on foot," Yangchen related. "We 
wander from country to country but we don't forget our culture." Yangchen 
was born in southern India. She has never been to Tibet but has never given 
up her dream of returning to her homeland. "Everything I know about Tibet I 
learned from my parents. I'd like to go back there," she says.

For the past few years Yangchen has worked at Tibetan Buddhist Meditation 
and Study Center in Bangalore. Now she is training to become an agricultural 
counselor through the Arava Program. The program, operated in cooperation 
with IFTP, has trained more than 300 Tibetans so far.

Yangchen says that news about events in Tibet comes from international news 
outlets. "It is hard to get information from Tibet," notes Lobsang Yeshi, a 
Tibetan who lives in Tel Aviv with his Israeli wife and was the organizer of 
the prayer gathering. "Even if you manage to make contact by phone or 
through the Internet, you usually can only ask general questions, like 'How 
are you?.' The Chinese Internet police monitor communications," Yeshi said.

"The Olympic Games are the most shameful thing in the world," says Tenzin, 
another one of the organizers. "China enables genocide in Darfur, defends 
the oppression in Burma and beats down the Falun Gong," Tenzin says.

The IFTP was founded in 1994 by Israelis who sought to help Tibetan refugees 
after visiting Tibet and northern India. The organization has about 1,000 
members. "As Jews, we feel a need and a duty to help oppressed peoples in 
other places," says Meira Abulafia, one of IFTP's leaders. "After Israel 
obtained international support for its independence, the time has came for 
it to offer support to other oppressed people. The likelihood of [Tibetan] 
political independence is very small, but we still believe there is a chance 
for cultural autonomy."

China cracks down on Tibetan protests as at least 100 people killed

Chinese security forces swarmed Tibet's capital Saturday and tourists were 
ordered out as Beijing gambled that a crackdown on violent protests against 
Chinese rule will not bring an international boycott of this summer's 
Olympics.

The tough response by the Chinese authorities came after fierce protests on 
Friday which contradicted China's claims of stability and tarnished a 
carefully nurtured image of national harmony as it readies to stage the 
Olympic Games in August.

Official Tibetan judicial authorities gave protesters until Monday night to 
turn themselves in and benefit from leniency.

"Criminals who do not surrender themselves by the deadline will be sternly 
punished according to the law," said a notice on the Tibetan government Web 
site.

International pressure mounted on Beijing to show restraint. Australia, the 
United States and Europe urged China to find a peaceful outcome, while 
Taiwan, which China claims as its own, predictably condemned Beijing for 
launching a crackdown.

Xinhua news agency said 10 "innocent civilians" had been shot or burned to 
death in the street clashes in the remote, mountain capital which has been 
sealed off. The dead included two people killed by shotguns.

Xinhua said 12 police officers had been "gravely injured" and 22 buildings 
and dozens of vehicles were set on fire.

A source close to the Tibetan government-in-exile, however, questioned the 
official death toll of 10. He said at least five Tibetan protesters had been 
shot dead by troops.

The Tibetan government in exile, based in northern India, said there have 
been 30 confirmed deaths until Saturday, and over 100 unconfirmed deaths."

The riots emerged from a volatile mix of pre-Olympics protests, diplomatic 
friction over Tibet and local discontent with the harsh ways of the region's 
Communist Party leadership.

The protests, the worst since 1989 in the disputed region, have thrust 
China's role as Olympic host and its policy toward Tibet back into the 
international spotlight.

A rash of angry blog posts appeared after the deaths were confirmed. 
Hollywood actor Richard Gere, a Buddhist and an activist for Tibetan causes, 
urged an Olympics boycott.

International Olympic Committee president Jacques Rogge opposed a boycott, 
saying only the athletes would suffer.

Accounts from the remote region were fragmentary and China restricts access 
for foreign media, making it difficult to independently verify the 
casualties and the scale of the protests and suppression.

Yet the details emerging from witness accounts and government statements 
suggested Beijing was preparing a methodical campaign - one that if 
carefully modulated would minimize bloodshed and avoid wrecking Beijing's 
grand plans for the Olympics in August.

Signs of violence persisted Saturday. Several witnesses reported hearing 
occasional sounds of gunfire. One Westerner who went to a rooftop in Lhasa's 
old city said he saw troops with automatic rifles moving through the streets 
firing, though did not see anyone shot.

Even as Chinese forces appeared to reassert control in Lhasa, a second day 
of sympathy protests erupted in an important Tibetan town 1,200 kilometers 
away. Police fired tear gas to disperse hundreds of Buddhist monks and other 
Tibetans after they marched from the historic Labrang monastery and smashed 
windows in the county police headquarters in Xiahe, witnesses said.

The China-installed governor of Tibet, besieged by reporters as he entered a 
legislative meeting in Beijing, vowed to deal harshly with the protesters in 
Lhasa, but said no shots had been fired and promised that calm will be 
restored very soon.

"Beating, smashing, looting and burning - we absolutely condemn this sort of 
behavior," said Champa Phuntsok, an ethnic Tibetan.

He blamed the protests on followers of the Dalai Lama, who fled into exile 
in 1959 after a failed uprising against Chinese rule and is still Tibet's 
widely revered spiritual leader.

>From Dharamsala, India, the Dalai Lama appealed to China not to use force. 
He said he was deeply concerned and urged Tibetans not to resort to 
violence.

Preparing the Chinese public for tough measures, state-run television on the 
evening newscast showed footage of red-robed monks battering bus signs and 
Tibetans in street clothes hurling rocks and smashing shop windows as smoke 
billowed across Lhasa.

"The plot by an extremely small number of people to damage Tibet's stability 
and harmony is unpopular and doomed to failure," a narrator said as the 
footage played.

Chinese newspapers and Internet sites, all state-controlled, ran no reports 
on the violence except a brief Xinhua statement vowing to reassert order - a 
further sign the government was managing public expectations.

Foreign tourists in Lhasa were told to leave, a hotel manager and travel 
guide said, with the guide adding that some were turned back at the airport.

Tibet's latest unrest began Monday, the anniversary of the 1959 uprising, 
with protests by Buddhist monks demanding the release of other detained 
monks. Sporadic, largely peaceful protests and spiraling demands - including 
cries for Tibet's independence - continued throughout the week until Friday 
when police tried to stop a group of protesting monks.

http://news.scotsman.com/world/Scot-joins--monks-and.3881811.jp

Scot joins monks and nuns in exiles' protest

By CLAIRE SMITH
A PROTEST march of Tibetan exiles in India ended abruptly yesterday when 100 
monks and nuns who had planned to walk to Lhasa were arrested.
Leanne McKenzie, 27, from Irvine, and Maryla Cross, a Polish student at 
Edinburgh University, were among 30 or so westerners who joined the march.

Initially the protesters planned a hunger strike, but after intervention by 
the Dalai Lama, they agreed to eat.

Ms McKenzie, who was working at a Tibetan school in McLeod Ganj, where the 
Tibetan government in exile is based, said she had been moved to help the 
protest because she felt the world was not listening.

"I realised nobody is fighting for anything any more. Everyone is scared to 
do anything. I never take part in protests at home but I just felt this was 
the time to do something."

Police yesterday rounded up the protesters and took the Tibetan nationals to 
prison.

Last night, as news began arriving of violent protests in Lhasa, Ms McKenzie 
was one of hundreds of people at a candlelit vigil in McLeod Ganj.

A spokesman for Tibet's government in exile, Thupten Samphal, said: "I do 
not think that this group of peaceful marchers going home have flouted any 
law."

However India's foreign ministry said on Thursday that it "does not permit 
Tibetans to engage in anti-China political activities in India".

http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2008/03/19/asia/AS-GEN-Nepal-Tibet-Protests.php

Tibetans protest again in Nepal against Chinese crackdown, 30 arrested

The Associated Press
Published: March 19, 2008
KATMANDU, Nepal: Police in Nepal blocked about 100 Tibetan protesters from 
approaching the U.N. headquarters in the capital Wednesday to demand an 
investigation into China's crackdown in Tibet. About 30 people who tried to 
break through police lines were arrested.
The protesters, carrying banners reading, "U.N., we want justice, free 
Tibet, stop killings in Tibet," were allowed to march along a separate main 
street, but were prevented from shouting any slogans against China.
An officer who spoke on customary condition of anonymity said police had 
orders not to let the protesters say anything against Beijing.
Nepal's government does not want to harm its good relations with neighboring 
China, and has not issued any statements on Beijing's recent crackdown on 
protesters in Tibet.
It was the fourth protest in recent days by Tibetans close to the U.N. 
headquarters in Katmandu. Police used batons and tear gas on demonstrators 
in the earlier protests and arrested scores of people.
The demonstrations follow a week of protests in Tibet against Chinese rule. 
On Friday, Tibetans attacked ethnic Chinese and torched their shops in 
Lhasa, Tibet's capital. Sixteen people were killed, according to China's 
government. Tibet's government-in-exile in India said at least 80 Tibetans 
died.
Major Tibetan exile communities, including ones in Nepal and India, have 
organized their own protests during the past week, often clashing with 
authorities.
Nepal's border with China in the Himalayas is a key route for Tibetans 
fleeing Chinese rule in the region. Most of the refugees eventually move to 
India, where the government-in-exile and the Tibetans' spiritual leader, the 
Dalai Lama, are based.

http://canadianpress.google.com/article/ALeqM5iV62DRGNU7vcoQKYShyLOK0CDBLA

Tibetans protest in front of Chinese Embassy in Nepal's capital, 90 arrested
Apr 1, 2008
KATMANDU, Nepal - Tibetan exiles and monks protested Tuesday in front of the 
Chinese Embassy, but were quickly stopped by baton-wielding Nepalese 
policeman who detained at least 90 of them.
Demonstrators against Chinese rule in Tibet have gathered in recent weeks 
outside the United Nations and the Chinese visa office, which is about three 
kilometres from the embassy.
Tuesday's demonstration was the first so close to China's mission.
Riot police stopped some 50 protesters who marched on the embassy, dragging 
them across the street by their feet and hands and throwing them into 
waiting vans and trucks to be taken into custody.
A second group of about 40 gathered in the same area an hour later and were 
also taken into custody.
Hundreds of police were posted around the embassy Tuesday. Security around 
the embassy and visa office have been stepped since the protests began on 
March 10.
Nevertheless, the first group of protesters slipped past the police in a bus 
before disembarking and continuing on foot, chanting "Stop killing in 
Tibet."
They managed to get about 20 metres from the main embassy building before 
dozens of policemen in riot gear moved in.
One tearful woman spat in the direction of the embassy and shouted: "Killer 
China!"
The protesters, including monks, refused to disperse and police later 
detained them. Ordinarily, Buddhist monks are highly respected in Nepal.
The second batch of protesters trickled to the same area in small groups, 
but they were also pushed back then detained.
Human rights groups and the United Nations have criticized Nepal for using 
excessive force to quell the anti-Chinese protests and for not allowing 
peaceful demonstrations.
Nepal has said it won't allow protests against friendly nations, including 
China - a key trading partner that assists with development work in the 
Himalayan nation.
Earlier Tuesday, two international rights groups asked Nepal's government to 
stop abusing and threatening Tibetan exiles protesting China's recent 
crackdown in their homeland.
Dozens have been beaten with batons or rounded up after rallying in front of 
the Chinese Embassy visa office and the United Nations compound in the heart 
of Katmandu in recent days.
Some have been told they faced possible deportation, said New York-based 
Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International.

http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2008/03/25/asia/AS-GEN-Nepal-Tibetan-Protest.php

Nepal police crackdown on Tibetan protest in front of Chinese Embassy

The Associated Press
Published: March 25, 2008

KATMANDU, Nepal: Police armed with bamboo sticks stopped a protest by 
Tibetan refugees and monks in front of the Chinese Embassy in Nepal on 
Tuesday and arrested about 100 participants.
Chanting "Free Tibet" and "Chinese thieves leave our country," the 
protesters approached the visa office of the Chinese Embassy in Katmandu.
Police officers stopped the protesters at the gate of the fortified compound 
and tried to push them away from the area. When the demonstrators refused to 
leave, the officers shoved some 100 protesters into vans and trucks and 
drove them to detention centers. About 50 more protesters ran away.
Tibetans have been protesting near refugee camps or near the United Nations' 
office in Katmandu since March 10, but this was the first anti-Chinese rally 
near the Chinese Embassy.
Police at the scene said they had been ordered to not allow any protests or 
slogans against China, which Nepal's government considers an ally.
Police broke up at least two protests by Tibetan refugees, monks and their 
supporters on Monday and arrested about 475 people, the U.N. said.
The U.N. human rights office has said it was "deeply concerned at the 
arbitrary arrests and detentions of several hundred individuals."
Nepal has not issued any statements on Beijing's crackdown on anti-Chinese 
protests in Tibet.
Nepal's border with China in the Himalayas is a key route for Tibetans 
fleeing Chinese rule in the region.
Thousands of Tibetan refugees live with relatives in Nepal or in camps 
funded by aid groups. Most of the refugees eventually move to India, where 
Tibet's government-in-exile and its spiritual leader, the Dalai Lama, are 
based.

http://www.thepeninsulaqatar.com/Display_news.asp?section=World_News&subsection=Philippines+%26+South+Asia&month=April2008&file=World_News2008040371120.xml

Sixty-six arrested in pro-Tibet protest in Nepal
Web posted at: 4/3/2008 7:11:20
Source ::: AFP
KATHMANDU . Nearly 70 Tibetan exiles including maroon-robed monks and nuns 
were detained yesterday as they shouted "Free Tibet" in protests outside the 
Chinese embassy in Nepal's capital, police said.
The demonstrators gathered outside the gates of the embassy compound, crying 
"Stop the killing in Tibet" and other anti-Chinese slogans before being 
hauled away by police.
"We have 66 Tibetan protesters in our custody and they will be released 
later yesterday," said Prakash Pandit, a police officer at the barracks 
where the detainees were being held.
The same Tibetan exiles are turning up day after day at protests, getting 
detained and then released the same day by police, witnesses said.
The protests have been going on since unrest in the Tibetan capital Lhasa 
erupted on March 10, the anniversary of a failed 1959 uprising against 
Chinese rule.
Nepal is home to at least 20,000 Tibetans, who started arriving after the 
unsuccessful revolt.
International human rights groups have urged Nepal to allow the peaceful 
protests and told police to stop beating and detaining the exiled Tibetans.
Aid-dependent Nepal officially recognises Beijing's "One China" policy that 
regards Tibet and Taiwan as an integral part of China.
Nepalese officials have said they will not tolerate any pro-Tibet activities 
out of respect for their giant northern neighbour.

http://newsblaze.com/story/20080326090622kash.nb/newsblaze/TOPSTORY/Top-Stories.html

Tibetan Refugees in Kashmir Protest Against China
By Fayaz Wani

Srinagar, March 26: The Tibetan refugees settled in Kashmir and staged 
protests against Chinese government's crackdown on Tibetans in Lhasa. They 
called on United Nations to intervene and pressed China to grant 
independence to Tibet.
About 70 young Tibetan refugees dressed in yellow carrying placards and 
banners surfaced in the summer capital Srinagar and protested against the 
Chinese government for launch crackdown on Tibetan in Lhasa. They demanded 
release of all the Tibetans detained by the Chinese military. "All the 
detained persons should be released," they said.
They alleged that since March 10 about 135 Tibetans were killed and 1300 
arrested and tortured by the Chinese military.
They alleged that there are martial law like situations in Tibet as 
thousands of Peoples Liberation Army (PLA) personnel have been deployed to 
thwart peaceful protests.
"The atmosphere there is very tense. Many new protests are taking place 
daily and the Chinese army is using brutal force to disperse them," said the 
protestors.
The protesting Tibetan refugees demanded that United Nations should 
intervene and dispatch independent fact finding delegations to Tibet. "The 
UN should press China to step brutal killings in Tibet and release all 
arrested Tibetans", they said.
They also appealed UN to press China to grant independence to Tibet.
Tibetan refugees have settled in Kashmir are selling warm clothes and shoes.
Fayaz Wani reports on life in Srinagar, Kashmir.

http://news.smh.com.au/protibet-protests-continue-in-australia/20080316-1zob.html

Pro-Tibet protests continue in Australia

Pro-Tibetan demonstrations continued around Australia on Sunday as the 
international community pressed China to show restraint over its handling of 
strife in Tibet's capital Lhasa.
Chinese soldiers are blanketing Lhasa as part of a security clampdown which 
followed deadly protests in the city against China's rule of Tibet.
Official Chinese reports put the death toll at 10 but the exiled Tibetan 
government believes it is more like 30, and possibly as high as 100.
Washington has urged Beijing to exercise restraint, as has Australia.
Foreign Minister Stephen Smith has called on China to allow the peaceful 
expression of dissent, a position backed by the opposition.
"I think what's been said and done to date is appropriate," opposition 
foreign affairs spokesman Andrew Robb told reporters.
Concern about the plight of the Tibetans has prompted sympathy protests 
around the world, including Australia.
In Melbourne, more than 100 protesters demonstrated outside the Chinese 
consulate, with some hurling eggs and water bottles at the mission in 
suburban Toorak.
What began as a peaceful affair turned rowdy as a handful of demonstrators 
repeatedly surged towards the consulate's gates, before being pushed back by 
federal and state police officers, including mounted police.
At one point, a car driven by an unidentified Chinese man was pelted with 
eggs and battered with flagpoles as it drove into the consulate compound.
A female protester who sneaked past the police line and followed the car 
inside was chased by police and frogmarched back outside before being 
cautioned.
The Melbourne demonstration follows protests in Sydney on Saturday which 
ended with clashes between police and activists.
A protest outside the Chinese embassy in Canberra, which had Australian 
Federal Police (AFP) vehicles stationed outside, was peaceful.
An AFP spokeswoman said about 20 people had been protesting outside the 
embassy but there had not been any problems.
In Sydney, a 31-year-old man was charged with assaulting a police after four 
pro-Tibet activists were arrested during a protest outside the Chinese 
consulate.
Members of the Australian Tibetan community have apologised for the 
behaviour of some protesters at the consulate on Dunblane Street, 
Camperdown.
Police said the protest escalated when activists climbed onto the front gate 
of the consulate and damaged a flag inside.
"A police officer was allegedly hit over the head with a placard before 
being punched and kicked," a NSW police statement said.
Officers used capsicum spray to control the crowd of about 100 people.
Four people were arrested during the protest, but three were later released.
A 31-year-old man has been charged with common assault and assaulting 
police.
He was granted bail and is due to appear at Newtown Local Court on April 4, 
2008.
The protests in Lhasa were held to mark the anniversary of the Tibetans' 
1959 uprising against the Chinese that forced the Dalai Lama into exile.
The unrest has presented China's communist rulers with a huge domestic 
crisis just five months out from the Beijing Olympics.

http://www.hindu.com/thehindu/holnus/001200803171516.htm

Protesting Tibetans detained in Nepal
Kathmandu (PTI): More than 100 Tibetans were arrested and over a dozen 
others injured as police used batons to disperse a major protest against the 
Chinese rule.
Around 1,500 Tibetans, carrying placards bearing "Stop killings in Tibet", 
"Stop holding Olympic 2008 in bloody China" had gathered to stage a sit-in 
near the UN building starting early morning Monday where police 
lathicharged.
Some of the women demonstrators, carrying the flag of Tibet, were crying.
"Hundreds of people might have been killed as our brothers and sisters 
demonstrated in Tibet to commemorate the Uprising Day", an activist said.

http://afp.google.com/article/ALeqM5gMnUvFCg43Ic-RxhiOEHBz3Adipw

Tibet supporters protest in Canada
Mar 20, 2008
OTTAWA (AFP) - Some 200 protestors draped in Tibetan flags Thursday marched 
on Canada's parliament, waving "Free Tibet" placards and calling on China to 
abandon its bloody crackdown on Tibetan demonstrators.
They immediately got support from Canada's prime minister and some two dozen 
MPs and senators.
"We're rallying for human rights," Tibetan emigrant Wooeser Tenzin told AFP.
"Here in Canada we are free to speak out. Peaceful protest is the right of 
every Canadian. But when Tibetans try to speak out in their homeland, they 
are crushed by Chinese troops and the Chinese government," he said.
The boisterous crowd urged Ottawa to help Tibetans win freedom from Chinese 
rule, chanting "China out of Tibet," "Long live the Dalai Lama" and "No 
Olympics." Tenzin said Canada has a "moral obligation" to help them.
In a statement, Prime Minister Stephen Harper said that "Canada shares 
(their) concerns about what is happening in Tibet" and pressed China "to 
fully respect human rights and peaceful protest."
"Canada also calls on China to show restraint in dealing with this 
situation," Harper said.
"As his holiness the Dalai Lama told me when I met him and as he has been 
saying recently, his message is one of non-violence and reconciliation and I 
join him in that call."
Meanwhile, two dozen MPs and senators sent an open letter to China's 
ambassador in Ottawa, Lu Shumin, asking to be allowed to immediately travel 
to Tibet to assess the situation.
"The recent show of force, loss of life, and detention of peaceful 
protesters has been shocking. The expulsion of journalists from the region 
who could ensure impartial reporting is also deeply troubling," the group 
said.
"If authorities in Tibet are abiding by international standards they should 
have nothing to hide, and we and other international observers should be 
welcomed in," Senator Consiglio Di Nino, chair of the Parliamentary Friends 
of Tibet, said in a statement.
The group's three previous requests over the past year for Chinese entry 
visas were denied, he noted.
"The fear is that hundreds if not thousands of Tibetans are being rounded up 
beyond the prying eyes of the world and may face lengthy imprisonment and 
torture as acts of retribution," Di Nino said.
A week of protests against China's 57-year rule of Tibet erupted into 
full-scale rioting in Lhasa on Friday.
Demonstrations and attacks on government buildings have since spilled over 
into nearby Chinese provinces with sizeable ethnic Tibetan populations, 
according to Tibetan activists.
The unrest has shone a harsh spotlight on China's controversial rule of the 
Himalayan region and provoked whispers of possible Olympic boycotts and 
mounting calls for talks on Tibet's future.

http://canadianpress.google.com/article/ALeqM5jrV9oOAAiE_2CSLveQDc7_bhMdSg

Several hundred people take to Vancouver streets to protest violence in 
Tibet
Mar 22, 2008
VANCOUVER - About 300 people crowded outside the Chinese Consulate on 
Saturday to protest the ongoing violence in Tibet.
Many of them waved the Tibetan flag, and adorned their faces with its 
colours of blue, red and yellow. People came from as far away as Portland, 
Ore., to demonstrate.
The demonstrators began their march outside the city's art gallery and then 
clogged the Granville Street bridge, which is a major artery to the downtown 
core.
Beijing sent thousands of troops to Tibet to quell widespread demonstrations 
against Chinese rule that began March 10. The situation has sparked protests 
worldwide with many demonstrators calling for a boycott of China and the 
Beijing Olympics.
Mati Bernabei, with the Canada Tibet Committee and one of the Vancouver 
event's organizers, said the fact that the Chinese flag at the consulate was 
down was "an extreme act of cowardice."
"They're pretending they're not home," she said. "Even more than them not 
responding to our calls for dialogue they're actively (verbally) abusing our 
community and Tibetan activists for even asking for dialogue."
Bernabei said that by keeping China in the spotlight, changes can be made.
"My hope is that this type of action that's happening globally will force 
the Chinese government to rethink and come at this in a different way and 
ideally participate with the global community."
Wuangchuk Durjee came to the protest from Vancouver, Wash. He said fled his 
home country of Tibet in 1959 but still has family there.
"I haven't heard from them at all, everything is cut off," he said.
A representative from the Chinese consulate could not be reached.

http://enews.mcot.net/view.php?id=3342

Tibet protest at Chinese embassy seeks Beijing Olympics boycott
BANGKOK, March 19 (TNA) - About a dozen demonstrators staged a protest at 
the Chinese Embassy in Bangkok, calling for the Thai government to condemn 
China's Tibet crackdown and boycott this year's Olympic Games in Beijing.

A force of about 30 Thai police officers reinforced security at the Chinese 
embassy and erected barricades in response to the protest by the Free Tibet 
Network and the Federation of Students for Democracy led by Giles 
Ungphakorn, a social activist.

The demonstrators called for the Chinese government to cease its alleged 
violations of human rights and to refrain from using violence on the Tibetan 
demonstrators.
They asked the Thai government to issue a statement condemning the Chinese 
government and to boycott the Beijing Olympics in August by not sending Thai 
athletes to compete in the games.
Worldwide protests over China's crackdown in Tibet are spreading, putting 
pressure on Beijing's Communist leaders just months ahead of their showpiece 
Olympic Games in August.
China has denied any wrongdoing and has blamed Tibetans for the unrest. The 
protests began on 10 March, on the anniversary of a Tibetan uprising against 
Chinese rule, and gradually escalated.
Tibetan exiles say at least 99 protesters have died in clashes - in Lhasa 
and beyond - with authorities. China says 13 people were killed by rioters 
in Lhasa. (TNA)-E004

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,338331,00.html

Police in Nepal Clash with Tibet Protesters, Monks; 30 Arrested
Monday, March 17, 2008

March 16: Tibetan exiles hold a candle-light vigil to those killed in the 
ancient Tibetan capital of Lhasa at a monastery in Katmandu, Nepal.
KATMANDU, Nepal -  Police used bamboo batons to disperse about 100 Tibetan 
protesters and Buddhist monks in Katmandu on Monday, arresting around 30 in 
the latest crackdown on pro-Tibet demonstrations in neighboring Nepal.
The protesters were demonstrating peacefully near the main U.N. office in 
Katmandu, holding banners reading "Free Tibet" and demanding the United 
Nations investigate a Chinese crackdown on protests inside Tibet.
But police quickly moved in to break up the gathering, dragging protesters 
away and throwing them into the back of trucks that then took them to a 
nearby detention center. There was no word on whether they would be charged 
with any crimes or simply released, as is common in Nepal.
Tibetan exiles in neighboring India, meanwhile, held a similar protest 
outside U.N. offices in New Delhi. But police allowed them to gather 
peacefully, and U.N. staff met with a few of the leaders before the protest 
ended.
The demonstrations in Nepal and New Delhi followed a week of protests 
against Chinese rule in Tibet that culminated in violence Friday when 
Tibetans attacked ethnic Chinese and torched their shops in Lhasa, the 
region's capital. Officials there said 16 people died in the violence, but 
exiled Tibetans say as many as 80 people may have been killed.
Throughout the past week, major Tibetan exile communities, including ones in 
Nepal and India, have organized their own protests, often clashing with 
authorities who do not wish to jeopardize improving relations with Beijing.
A Nepali police official said he had received orders from top officials to 
break up Monday's protest with whatever force was necessary. He spoke on 
condition of anonymity, citing police policy.
A rally Saturday outside the U.N. offices in Katmandu was also forcibly 
broken up by police.
U.N. officials have not made any comments about the crackdown on protests 
outside their offices.
Mountain climbers are also being told by Nepalese officials that the summit 
of Mount Everest, which straddles the Nepali-Chinese border, will be off 
limits during the first 10 days of May, when China, the host of this year's 
Summer Olympics, plans to carry the Olympic torch up its side of the 
mountain. The move is aimed at heading off any high-altitude confrontation 
over Tibet's future.
Nepal's border with China in the Himalayas is a key route for Tibetans 
fleeing Chinese rule in the region. Most of the refugees eventually move to 
India, where Tibet's government-in-exile and the Tibetans' spiritual leader, 
the Dalai Lama, are based.
A travel warning was issued by the U.S. Department of State Saturday asking 
Americans to defer travel to Tibet until at least April 14.

http://story.malaysiasun.com/index.php/ct/9/cid/b8de8e630faf3631/id/340904/cs/1/

Riot police in Nepal bash Tibetan protestors
Malaysia Sun
Monday 24th March, 2008
Riot police in Nepal have brutally beaten unarmed Tibetan refugees, 
including women, nuns and monks.

The police have also arrested over 300 people in a battle which took place 
near UN headquarters in Kathmandu Valley, at a park famous for pro-democracy 
and human rights protests.

The park became the scene of violence as the police armed with batons and 
guns swooped down on groups of Tibetans who were sitting peacefully and 
chanting slogans for independence from China.

Human rights activists were also in the park to observe the Nepalese police 
dragging over 300 people into vans after tearing down their pro-Tibetan 
placards.

The police were unmoved by protests from human rights activists from Amnesty 
International, who had organised the protest.

Peaceful Tibetan refugees have been living in Nepal for decades since their 
parents and grandparents fled Tibet after China invaded the Buddhist kingdom 
in the 1950s.

They have been staging peaceful protests in front of the UN office and the 
Chinese embassy in Kathmandu for a week and a half.

The protests, which started after a rally last week, triggered a suppression 
by the Nepal government.

Nepal supports Beijing's 'One China' policy, which holds Tibet and Taiwan to 
be an integral part of the communist republic.

http://www.hindustantimes.com/StoryPage/StoryPage.aspx?id=31d80723-28bf-45c8-8add-d1549198521a&ParentID=8d054a2a-8e52-4db6-9368-d0b4529a3a6b&MatchID1=4678&TeamID1=6&TeamID2=3&MatchType1=1&SeriesID1=1179&PrimaryID=4678&Headline=Tibetans+protest+Lhasa+crackdown

Tibetans protest Lhasa crackdown
Ravi Bajpai , Hindustan Times
Email Author
New Delhi, March 16, 2008
Delhi Police detained around 25 Tibetans on Saturday for protesting outside 
the Chinese Embassy in the Capital. They were protesting against the use of 
force on Tibetans in Lhasa, Tibet, by the Chinese government. More than 350 
protesters also gathered near Jantar Mantar on Saturday for a peaceful 
protest.
All roads leading to the Chinese Embassy were barricaded and all vehicles 
moving in the area were checked and people were frisked. Policemen from more 
than two police stations were deployed and a company of the reserve police 
force was put on alert, said a police officer.
This was the third demonstration in four days by the Tibetans-in-exile 
outside the Chinese Embassy. More than 80 protesters have been arrested 
under preventive detention till now. On Friday, more than 200 policemen from 
the entire New Delhi district were deployed to control the protesters, said 
an officer.
Kunchok Yamphel, one of the coordinators of the protests, said, "The Indian 
government has been supportive of our cause till now, but the attitude has 
changed. People will sit on an indefinite hunger strike soon."
The protesters, who were detained, had reached the Chinese Embassy in a bus 
and had started marching towards the diplomatic installation carrying the 
Tibetan national flag and banners declaring their protest.
"A few women suddenly broke away from the group and started running towards 
the embassy. A group of officers chased them and stopped them," police said.
Meanwhile, the protesters said they would not relent till the tension in 
Tibet recedes. "We will stay here until we get support from India and the 
world," said a protester.

http://www.reuters.com/article/sportsNews/idUSL3067149920080330

Olympic flame heads to China amid protests
Sun Mar 30, 2008 3:36pm EDT
By Karolos Grohmann
ATHENS (Reuters) - Greece handed the Olympic flame to China, the hosts of 
the 2008 Games, on Sunday despite attempts by pro-Tibet protesters to 
disrupt the ceremony.
A small group of activists tried to stop the flame from reaching the Athens 
stadium where Beijing officials were waiting, but they were quickly removed 
by Greek police.
Hundreds of police lined the flame's route, scores of security vehicles 
followed the torch bearers and helicopters hovered overhead -- the strictest 
security measures since torch relays were launched at the 1936 Berlin Games.
"In 130 days the 2008 Beijing Olympics begin. We and the other nations of 
the world look forward to this moment," said Beijing Games organizing chief 
Liu Qi before accepting the flame. The Games run from August 8 to 24.
Protesters holding Tibet flags and shouting "Free Tibet" and "China out of 
Tibet" failed to break through the police cordon and get to the final 
torch-bearer entering the stadium, said a Reuters witness.
Police detained 21 Greeks and foreigners for staging the protests but said 
they would be released later. Several others were moved away from police 
cordons.
Lit at a protest-disrupted ceremony in ancient Olympia last week, the flame 
will arrive in Beijing from Greece by charter plane at about 9 a.m. (9 p.m. 
EDT on Sunday) on Monday before being officially welcomed at a ceremony on 
Tiananmen Square.
Security will be tight on the square, the focal point of democracy protests 
that were crushed in 1989, to ensure chief Beijing organizer Liu is not 
embarrassed a second time.
Rights activists unfurled banners condemning China's rights record at last 
Monday's flame-lighting ceremony.
SECURITY
>From Beijing, the torch will be taken around the globe and across China on a 
137,000 km (85,130 mile) relay before being used to light a cauldron at the 
opening of the Games.
It arrives in London next Sunday and will then be paraded in Paris and San 
Francisco -- a four-day stretch where most protests are expected.
"Look at all this police and all this security," said Yiorgos 
Konstandopoulos, an office clerk attending the ceremony at the stadium where 
the first modern Olympics were held in 1896. "It's the (IOC's) fault for 
awarding the Games to China."
Protests marred the relay within Greece. Demonstrators lay on the ground in 
front of vehicles accompanying the flame in Olympia and the northern city of 
Thessaloniki, holding up the runners several times.
Exiled Tibetans and human rights activists targeted the Olympic flame to 
protest against a crackdown by Chinese forces on protests in Tibet and parts 
of western China.
China has ruled Tibet since a 1950 invasion and has accused Tibet's exiled 
spiritual leader the Dalai Lama of plotting "terror" ahead of the Olympics.
(Additional reporting by Nick Mulvenney in Beijing; Writing by Dina 
Kyriakidou; Editing by Keith Weir)

http://canadianpress.google.com/article/ALeqM5gQwaIHohaFAGKgc0FOcitJT3416A

Thousands of Tibetans hold anti-China protest in New Delhi
3 days ago
NEW DELHI - Thousands of Tibetan demonstrators carried 154 shrouded 
effigies, representing the compatriots they believed were killed in a 
crackdown on anti-China protests in the Himalayan region, in a rally 
Thursday in the Indian capital.
Carrying placards saying "Stop Cultural Genocide in Tibet" and "China has 
turned Tibet into a Killing Field," protesters urged China to release 
imprisoned Tibetans and remove its heavy military presence from the region.
Roughly 200 protesters marched to New Delhi from Dharmsala, the seat of 
Tibet's government-in-exile and home to the Dalai Lama, the Tibetan 
spiritual leader. The rest of the demonstrators arrived from neighbouring 
states.
The crowd carried effigies to represent the 154 victims they believe were 
killed in the protests and the ensuing crackdown in the Tibetan capital, 
Lhasa, last month. Chinese authorities say 22 people died in the riots that 
broke out March 14.
China has accused the Dalai Lama, a Nobel Peace Prize laureate, of 
orchestrating the violence to sabotage the Beijing Olympic Games in August 
and create an independent state.
Samdhong Rinpoche, the prime minister of the Tibetan government-in-exile, 
said Tibetan leaders were hoping for a peaceful settlement with China.
"If they are wise enough, some path for reconciliation might be opened," 
Rinpoche told reporters in New Delhi, where he addressed the protesters. "If 
they remain rigid, the movement will not end and it will sustain by itself."
The protests are the longest and most sustained challenge to China's 57-year 
rule in the Himalayan region, and have focused increased international 
scrutiny and criticism on China in the run-up to this summer's games.
The Olympic torch was scheduled to pass through New Delhi on April 17. The 
international torch relay has faced chaotic protests in London and Paris 
because of China's human rights record in Tibet and elsewhere.
On Thursday, five Tibetan protesters briefly displayed a banner reading "No 
Olympic torch through Tibet" on the path the torch was scheduled take 
through New Delhi, but they left before police arrived.

http://voanews.com/english/archive/2008-02/2008-02-08-voa17.cfm?CFID=214041687&CFTOKEN=93381154

Reporters Without Borders Holding Demonstration to Protest Free Speech Curbs 
in China
By Lisa Bryant
Paris
08 February 2008

The Paris-based journalist advocacy group Reporters Without Borders is 
holding a demonstration Friday to protest free speech curbs in China. Lisa 
Bryant has more from the French capital.

Chinese man poses during 'Reporters sans Frontieres' (Reporters without 
Borders)in Paris, 08 Feb 2008
The demonstrations come six months ahead of the opening on August 8 of the 
Olympic games in Beijing. China had promised to improve its human rights 
conditions ahead of the games. Reporters Without Borders, or RSF, is one of 
a number of human rights groups who fear this is not the case.
"Our concern is that despite all the promises that were made in 2001 by the 
Chinese authorities to get the games, we monitor a lot of press violations. 
Especially detention of journalists and cyber dissidents," explained Vincent 
Brossel, the head of the Asia desk at Reporters Without Borders in Paris.
According to RSF, 35 journalists and 51 dissidents and human rights 
defenders have faced political subversion charges in recent months. And 
Brossel says there are more Chinese journalists in jail now than in 2001.
Earlier this year, Beijing also formally arrested a prominent Chinese human 
rights advocate, Hu Jia.
But China is also debating whether to relax control of the Internet during 
the games. Beijing lifted travel and interview restrictions on foreign 
journalists at the start of this year. And on Tuesday, China freed a Hong 
Kong-based reporter jailed for five years for allegedly spying for Taiwan.
Brossel hopes the Paris protest will send a message to the Olympic committee 
as well.
"The main message goes to the IOC - the International Olympic Committee. In 
talking freely and strongly to the Chinese government they have the 
responsibility to defend Olympic values," Brossel said.
Other human rights groups have also protested China's human rights abuses in 
recent weeks, and Amnesty International is organizing a similar protest on 
Monday.

http://www.news.com.au/story/0,23599,23425754-1702,00.html

Protest disrupts Olympic flame ceremony
By staff writers and wires
March 24, 2008 08:44pm
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THE Beijing Olympics flame was lit in a tightly guarded ceremony in Ancient 
Olympia today at the birthplace of the ancient Olympics, but it was not 
without controversy.
The ceremony launches the Olympic torch relay that marks the countdown for 
each Games.

The Beijing Games relay is the longest and most ambitious ever planned, 
lasting 130 days and covering 137,000km worldwide.

The Beijing Olympics, the first to be held in China, will open on August 8 
and run until August 24.

Prior to the lighting of the flame, the ceremony was marred when three 
unidentified protesters tried to disrupt the speech of China organising 
committee chief Liu Qi.

The protesters tried to grab the microphone, and unfurled a banner reading 
"Boycott the Games in the country that tramples on human rights."

The three men are believed to be part of the international rights group 
Reporters Without Borders.

Police rapidly moved into the spectator stand and Greek state television 
quickly cut its live broadcast to another image.

Chinese state television also cut away from the ceremony.

Broadcaster CCTV's news channel cut to what appeared to be stock pictures of 
the ceremony site in Olympia.

Several Chinese channels were showing the traditional ceremony in Olympia 
and it was being shown on CCTV with a short delay, compared with BBC World 
images seen in China.

Campaign groups are expected to target the torch route to highlight their 
causes, which include improved human rights in China and anger at the 
clampdown following rioting in Tibet over the past two weeks.

"The Olympic flame will radiate light and happiness, peace and friendship, 
and hope and dreams to the people of China and the whole world," Mr Qi said 
in his speech.

On an overcast day inside the archaeological site, that played host to the 
Olympics in ancient Greece, actress Maria Nafpliotou playing the high 
priestess used a break in the clouds to light the torch in front of the 
Temple of Hera.

Greek athlete Alexandros Nikolaidis, an Athens 2004 Games taekwondo silver 
medallist, will be the first torchbearer starting a six-day Greek relay 
before the flame is handed over to the Chinese on March 30.

Earlier today, a Tibetan activist briefly confronted International Olympic 
Committee president Jacques Rogge at his hotel in Ancient Olympia.

Deadly protests started March 10 in the Tibetan capital of Lhasa on the 49th 
anniversary of a failed uprising against Chinese rule.

The demonstrations turned violent four days later, touching off 
demonstrations among Tibetans in three neighbouring provinces.

Beijing's official death toll from the rioting is 22, but the Dalai Lama's 
government-in-exile has said 99 Tibetans have been killed.

http://www.cesnur.org/2005/falun_03.htm

"Police face call to free Falungong protesters"
("Bangkok Post," December 19, 2005)
Bangkok, Thailand - Thai practitioners of Falungong have sought the release 
of six Chinese practitioners, including a four-year-old boy, detained on 
Friday by Immigration Police. The six were among the eight practitioners 
arrested in front of the Chinese embassy in Bangkok while holding a peaceful 
sit-in to protest the alleged rape of their colleagues by Chinese police in 
Hebei province.
The other two members of the group were released soon after their arrest.
The four-year-old, identified as Kai Shin, was also taken to the detention 
cell after the boy refused to leave his father's side.
"Right now, Falungong practitioners are staging a sit-in protest in front of 
Thai embassies in 60 countries, petitioning for the release of their 
colleagues who have done nothing wrong," said Chachalai Sutakanat, a Thai 
practitioner of Falungong, at a press conference yesterday.
According to a statement released by the group, the detention of the six 
practitioners was unacceptable as the victims were all persons of concern 
(PoC) and under the UNHCR's protection.
The detainees have begun a hunger strike to protest their arrest which, they 
claim, was directed by the Chinese embassy.
Ms Chachalai also expressed concern for the boy whose mother was killed 
during a violent crackdown in China.
Fourteen-year-old Wang Anqi, who was arrested and then released, said her 
parents were still in the detention cell.
The Anqi family fled with other groups of Chinese practitioners to Thailand 
following the crackdown and are now holding PoC refugee status.
Ms Wang said the basic human rights of the six detainees were being 
violated.
The Chinese government outlawed the Falungong in 1999, naming the group the 
"cult of evil." The Chinese authorities often resorted to heavy-handed 
crackdowns to punish the practitioners. Over 2,000 practitioners were 
thought to have died in the suppression drive.
Falungong is a Chinese spiritual practice - a blend of qigong and religious 
belief purporting to improve the mind, body, and spirit. Falungong was 
introduced in Thailand in 1996. Practitioners provide free daily 
instructions at Lumpini Park.

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/asia/china/article3372282.ece

February 15, 2008
Activists to turn torch's global journey into a path of protest
Ashling O'Connor, Olympics Correspondent and Jane Macartney in Beijing
Human rights activists plan to disrupt China's "journey of harmony" as the 
Olympic torch is taken around the world before the Beijing Games this 
summer.
The presence of protesters along the 85,000-mile route through 20 cities 
across the continents is part of a campaign by human rights groups to use 
the Olympics to focus international attention on China's role in Darfur. It 
follows the withdrawal of Steven Spielberg, the Hollywood director, as 
artistic director of the Games on the ground that China had failed to use 
its influence to end the humanitarian crisis in Sudan.
Mr Spielberg had been invited to act as an artistic consultant for the 
opening and closing ceremonies of the Games. However, on Tuesday night he 
put out a statement saying: "I find that my conscience will not allow me to 
continue business as usual. My time and energy must be spent not on Olympic 
ceremonies but on doing all I can to help bring an end to the unspeakable 
crimes against humanity that continue to be committed in Darfur."
In its first response, China yesterday voiced "regret" at his decision but 
lashed out at those it accused of "ulterior motives". Liu Jianchao, a 
Foreign Ministry spokesman, said: "We hope not to see such a major event 
anticipated by the whole world disturbed by political issues. This is not in 
line with the Olympic spirit."
Mr Liu said: "It is understandable if some people do not understand the 
Chinese government policy on Darfur, but I am afraid that some people may 
have ulterior motives, and this we cannot accept."
China commonly makes reference to "ulterior motives" as a term to describe 
people it considers to be operating with the purpose of doing it harm.
The plan to disrupt the torch route will cause further consternation to 
Chinese officials, who consider it "one of the grand ceremonies for the 
Beijing Olympic Games". As these protests will be held outside the country, 
China will be powerless to stop them.
Dream for Darfur, a US-based lobby group linked to the actress Mia Farrow, 
will start its rally in Ancient Olympia in Greece next month where the 
Olympic flame begins its 130-day journey from the last host city to the next 
one in Beijing. Further protests are planned in London, Paris, San Francisco 
and Hong Kong.
"The thing that bothers the Chinese the most is the idea of demonstrations.
So we are planning a series of demonstrations starting in Athens," Jill 
Savitt, executive director of Dream for Darfur, said. "We hope the protests 
will follow the flame around the world as momentum gathers."
Announced amid great fanfare last April, the torch relay, along the historic 
Silk Route, up the world's highest peak and to the world beyond had been 
billed as China's first opportunity to "enhance mutual understanding and 
friendship among people of different countries". Jacques Rogge, president of 
the International Olympic Committee, described the relay as a "journey of 
harmony bringing friendship and respect to people of different 
nationalities, races and creeds".
The torch, 72cm-high (2ft 4in), designed to withstand wind and rain, will 
arrive in Beijing for the opening ceremony on August 8.
It will pass through London in in the first week of April. Organisers of the 
2012 London Games plan to use the event to promote interest in their own 
Games and test the local appetite for the Olympics. The flame is to be 
carried through the city by 80 torchbearers, the last of whom will light a 
cauldron.
The London Organising Committee has said it is not concerned that any 
politicisation of the Beijing Games might have a longer-term detrimental 
effect. "The Olympic Games can become a platform for protests but it has 
always transcended every protest or boycott and we are confident that London 
2012 will be no different," a spokeswoman said.
Within China itself, where most provinces will receive the Olympic flame on 
its travels, there is unlikely to be any negative reaction amid a media 
blackout of the Darfur controversy.
Yesterday a lone Chinese newspaper reported Mr Spielberg's protest 
withdrawal.
The Global Times, a current affairs tabloid run by the Communist Party's 
People's Daily, said: "Western exploitation of the Olympics to pressure 
China immediately provoked much disgust among ordinary Chinese people. The 
vast majority of Chinese people have expressed bafflement and outrage at the 
Western pressure. In their view, it's absolutely absurd to place the Darfur 
issue, so many thousands of miles away, on the head of China."
China is believed to be able to wield special influence with the government 
in Sudan because it buys some 40 per cent of the country's oil exports while 
selling it weapons and defending Khar-toum in the UN Security Council.
Ms Farrow tried this week to deliver to the Chinese mission to the United 
Nations a letter signed by a group of Nobel Peace laureates including 
Archbishop Desmond Tutu, Shirin Ebadi, Elie Wiesel and Bishop Carlos Belo as 
well as politicians, Olympic medallists and entertainers.
Zhu Jing, a spokeswoman for the Beijing Olympics organising committee , 
said: "Linking the Darfur issue to the Olympic Games will not help to 
resolve this issue and is not in line with the Olympic spirit that separates 
sports from politics."
The Chinese public, in internet comments, have rallied around the Games.

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/asia/bjorks-protest-a-sign-of-things-to-come-for-china-791352.html

Bjork's protest a sign of things to come for China
By Clifford Coonan, China Correspondent
Wednesday, 5 March 2008
Bjork is better known as a pop eccentric than as a political force, but the 
Icelander showed she can still raise establishment hackles when she caused a 
storm in Shanghai by crying "Tibet! Tibet!" at the end of her protest song, 
"Declare Independence".
Discussing anything to do with Tibetan calls for greater autonomy is one of 
the great taboos in China but Bjork lived up to her billing in the Chinese 
financial capital - local media had called her the "Queen of the Wildly 
Unpredictable" and flagged the show as "Bjork's Shanghai Surprise".
Her comments, low key as they were, illustrate the kind of problems the 
Chinese government is going to have keeping a lid on athletes and other 
visitors making political statements during August's Olympic Games in 
Beijing. Bjork, who performed in the ceremonies at the Athens Games, has 
used the song "Declare Independence" to highlight political issues during 
her current tour, including backing Kosovo's independence.
Many of the 3,000 fans gathered for the show in the Shanghai International 
Gymnastic Centre reportedly missed the reference, and state media did not 
report the incident, but news of Bjork's message did prompt a number of 
outraged responses on bulletin boards and blogs.
"If she really did this, then this woman really makes people throw up," ran 
one comment on Sina.com, while the Danwei website quoted another person 
saying: "Those who put on the show should be severely fined and not allowed 
to bring this kind of trash in for performances."
Bjork is the latest of a host of singers to play in China. Until a couple of 
years ago only the safest pop was allowed. Lately, more risqué acts have 
come to China but bands like The Rolling Stones have stuck closely to the 
agreed text to avoid offending their hosts.
Bjork has always insisted she is an amateur when it comes to politics, but 
she once said: "Maybe I can be a spokesperson for people who aren't normally 
interested in politics."
Tibet is rarely discussed in China. The People's Liberation Army occupied 
Tibet, which has a distinctive Buddhist culture, in 1950 and Beijing has 
kept a tight grip on it ever since, though it claims the region enjoys 
significant autonomy.
Bjork's protest comes as several Tibetan independence groups are running 
campaigns to promote their cause ahead of the Olympics.

http://www.dailynews.com/news/ci_8870620

San Francisco alters Olympic torch route to avoid protests
By Bridget Johnson, Staff Writer
Article Last Updated: 04/10/2008 06:03:18 AM PDT

SAN FRANCISCO - A scattershot route for the Olympic torch ensured that it 
made its way out of AT&T Park unscathed Wednesday, but spirited protesters 
made sure it never got to the ceremonial stage set up along San Francisco's 
scenic Embarcadero.
As the flame moved through the streets of San Francisco, it traveled in 
switchbacks and left the crowds confused, forcing protesters to alter their 
plans and try to keep up with the rerouted torch.
Long before the torch even left the baseball stadium - where a phalanx of 
police eyed pro- and anti-China demonstrators - protesters had gathered at 
the historic waterfront, where the big closing ceremony was set to take 
place.
There, barricades lined the planned route for the Beijing Olympics flame.
A strong presence of Chinese supporters waving giant flags and banging drums 
faced off with equally vocal demonstrators for Tibet, Darfur, Burma and the 
Chinese Muslim minority Uighurs.
As the hours dragged on, rumors buzzed around the crowd about the current 
location of the AWOL torch: It was in a bus on Van Ness Avenue. It was on a 
boat headed for the Ferry Building. It was hiding in an unknown, nearby 
building.
Then at 3:30 p.m., a protest leader announced through a bullhorn that the 
ceremonies had been canceled. Soon after, the torch was spirited away to San 
Francisco International Airport after its first and only stop in the United 
States.
Tony Hoeber, a San Jose resident who took the day off work to protest, stood 
on a concrete wall along the Embarcadero with his pro-Tibet sign, drawing a 
crowd of booing, pro-China demonstrators.
One, waving a large Chinese flag, shouted at Hoeber to "get out."
"Hitler had his big lie. China has their big lie," Hoeber said to the China 
supporters as they tried to cover his sign with the large Chinese flag. "... 
You're still young. You can learn about freedom!"
"China is free!" a man yelled back at Hoeber.
Crowds poured into the street as one policeman told his officers to "stand 
down." The pro-Tibet demonstrators, who arrived at the scene in a series of 
marches, rallied up and down the waterfront with flags, banners and even a 
faux Chinese tank whose "soldiers" stopped every so often to pretend to beat 
monks.
Bing Rong Wang, a native of Beijing and a San Francisco resident, wandered 
through the Chinese side of the protests with a sign indicating she was 
Chinese and supported Tibet. As a Buddhist, she said, she followed the Dalai 
Lama.
"I grew up in China and want the truth to be heard," Wang said. "China is 
portrayed as a leader who tries to give peace and that's a lie."
As she spoke to a reporter, China supporters gathered around. "Where are you 
from?" one asked.
"Why are you against China?" asked another.
"I'm not against China," Wang said. "I'm for Tibetan people living their own 
life."
One of the Chinese who argued with Wang was Anna Zhou of Fremont.
"I'm just really excited that China is hosting the Olympics," she said. 
"China is open to the whole world."
She conceded that the country "has problems," yet said that the recent 
crackdown in Tibet was about the Chinese government peacefully trying to 
suppress a "very violent situation."
"Every year, China gives hundreds of millions of dollars to build Tibet," 
Zhou said. "... Tibet is free and more free than before."
Xhijiang Lia joined a contingent of fellow Chinese students from the 
University of California, Davis. "We came to support the Olympics and the 
unity of the country," he said, adding that the students had mobilized via 
e-mail. "We came to protest against media bias (against China)."
Lia said he believed Tibet was better off now than 50 years ago.
"Certainly there are some problems," he said, "but there is no room for a 
free Tibet."
A large group of Darfur demonstrators, easily recognizable by their 
forest-green shirts and hats, also moved into the roadway, with many staging 
a "die-in" to protest China's economic and military support for the Sudanese 
government.
Phil Spiegel of Los Altos came to support Darfur with Congregation Kol Emeth 
in Palo Alto and a group of other Jewish communities. "We feel strongly that 
there should never again be any sort of genocide or Holocaust in the world," 
he said, adding that he opposes China's support of Sudan.
"I hope that President Bush doesn't go (to the Olympics)," Spiegel added.
Smaller protest groups included three nude men lobbying for ancient 
Grecian-style, in-the-buff Olympic Games, though one of the men, George 
Davis of San Francisco, acknowledged "that's not gonna happen this year."
Davis, who expressed his support for the human-rights demonstrators, said 
passers-by had been supportive of their skin statement. "It's been a total 
thumbs-up all the way," he said.
As the protests heated up, with opposite sides trying to seize each other's 
flags and arguments escalating into minor scuffles, a Tibetan protest leader 
reminded them of the directive they'd received the day before in a rally at 
U.N. Plaza: no violence.
Less than an hour before the torch relay began, officials cut the original 
six-mile route nearly in half.
Then, at the opening ceremony, the first torchbearer took the flame from a 
lantern brought to the stage and held it aloft before running into a 
waterfront warehouse. A motorcycle escort departed, but the torchbearer was 
nowhere in sight.
Officials drove the Olympic torch about a mile inland and handed it off to 
two runners away from protesters and media, and they began jogging toward 
the Golden Gate Bridge, in the opposite direction of the crowds waiting for 
it. More confusion followed, with the torch convoy apparently stopped near 
the bridge before heading southward to the airport.
The Associated Press contributed to this story.

http://www.standardnewswire.com/news/476312530.html

Tibet Activists Scale Golden Gate Bridge to Protest China's Torch Relay

High Profile Action Demands 'No Torch in Tibet'

Contact: Lhadon Tethong, 917-418-4181; Kate Woznow, 917-601-0069; Alma 
David, 646-202-0704; Students for a Free Tibet, 415-244-8218

SAN FRANCISCO, April 7 /Standard Newswire/ -- Seven Tibet independence 
activists were detained this afternoon after three of them scaled the Golden 
Gate Bridge and unfurled a large protest banner reading "One World, One 
Dream, Free Tibet 08."  The three climbers remained on the bridge for about 
2 hours before coming down voluntarily. Upon their descent they were met and 
arrested by officers of the California Highway Patrol.  The daring action 
comes two days before China's torch relay is expected to be greeted by 
thousands of Tibet protesters from across North America when it arrives in 
San Francisco. Already, the torch's so-called 'Journey of Harmony,' which 
China's leadership hoped would improve its global image and divert attention 
from its ongoing occupation of Tibet, has been overshadowed by boisterous 
protests in Olympia, Istanbul, London and Paris.  In all these cities, Tibet 
campaigners have engaged in dramatic actions to highlight China's ongoing 
brutal crackdown on freedom protests inside Tibet.

Photo: April 7 Golden Gate Bridge demonstration, video footage and hi-res 
photos at: http://drop.io/sfapril7

"In two days, the Chinese government is bringing the Olympic torch to San 
Francisco, while inside Tibet it continues its brutal and violent crackdown 
on Tibetans crying out for freedom," said Tashi Sharzur, spokesperson for 
Students for a Free Tibet and one of the activists detained in today's 
action. "The International Olympic Committee must immediately withdraw Tibet 
from the Torch Relay route.  Carrying the Olympic torch through Tibet would 
exacerbate the crisis and cause yet more suffering for the Tibetan people."

"San Francisco has a long, proud history of standing up for human rights and 
freedom, and we will not allow China's government to make a mockery of 
everything this city stands for," said Laurel Sutherlin, one of the climbers 
and a spokesperson for Students for a Free Tibet.  "Gavin Newsom has 
privately agreed to express his concern with the IOC over China's torch 
going through Tibet. Mayor Newsom must now publicly follow up on this 
promise and call for Tibet to be removed from the torch route."

Tibetans and supporters from New York, Washington DC, Toronto, Minnesota, 
Santa Fe, Salt Lake City, Portland, Calgary, Seattle, Los Angeles, Vancouver 
and other cities in North America are converging in San Francisco for mass 
protests on Tuesday and Wednesday to demand Tibet be removed from the torch 
relay route.

China's latest deadly attack on Tibetans came in in Tongkor Township (Kardze 
County), in southeastern Tibet on April 3rd after Chinese authorities 
detained two monks for possessing photos of the Dalai Lama.  Following a 
raid by over 3,000 armed police at Tongkor monastery, the police opened fire 
on the crowd of over 700 people - nearly half of whom were monks - gathered 
to protest the arrests. All Tibetan areas remain closed off to independent 
media, but eyewitness reports from all across Tibet describe severe 
beatings, suicide attempts by monks locked inside their monasteries, 
house-to-house searches and, in one instance, a large group of Tibetans 
being boarded onto a train to an unknown destination at Lhasa's new railway 
station.

http://media.www.daily49er.com/media/storage/paper1042/news/2008/04/10/News/Csulb.Student.Protests.Olympic.Torch.Ceremony-3315357.shtml

CSULB student protests Olympic torch ceremony
Christine Pham supported the "Free Tibet" movement Wednesday in a San 
Francisco rally against China's 2008 Summer Olympics.
Andy Franks
Issue date: 4/10/08 Section: News
Media Credit: Kyle Smith
Protesters for Tibetan freedom await the passing of the Olympic torch at a 
San Francisco rally Wednesday.

Thousands of protesters swarmed the streets of San Francisco Wednesday to 
protest the scheduled relay run for the 2008 Beijing Olympics torch.

The event was another not-so-welcoming reception for the torch, which has 
already been met with protest in London and Paris over what critics say is a 
bad human rights record of the Olympics' host nation, China, specifically in 
regards to recent political unrest in provincial Tibet.

Cal State Long Beach student and junior illustration and geography major 
Christine Pham was there alongside protestors to show her support for the 
"Free Tibet" movement.

"After what happened in France, it makes it clear that there is a universal 
call for human rights," Pham said in a phone call with the Daily Forty-Niner 
over background protest chants on San Francisco's Embarcadero waterfront. 
"We're all really happy to be here. It's electrifying."

Pham, a follower of Tibetan Buddhism, said she was initially reluctant to 
make the trip, but made the last-minute decision on a moral gut-reaction.

"I wanted to be in solidarity with the Tibetan community and its values of 
religious freedom and free speech," Pham said.

Pham, who spent the day with fellow protestors on The Embarcadero, did not 
follow the torch when it deviated from the scheduled route. The relay path, 
which was set to run from the downtown Financial District across The 
Embarcadero and back, was interrupted when the first torch was led by police 
down an alternate inland route on Van Ness Avenue and eventually toward the 
Golden Gate Bridge. Spectators and protesters scrambled to follow the torch 
runners.

"It wasn't just about seeing the torch," Pham said. "The torch is a symbol 
of lighting the way. The fact that they hid it was really disgraceful - 
we're a free country and should have nothing to hide."

Pham said she made the trip with her sister, Connie, who is also a CSULB 
alumna, and friends from the Buddhist temple she attends. While not a member 
of any organization related to the liberation cause, Pham has strong ties to 
the Tibetan community in Southern California.

"There's the Tibet Association of Southern California, and Students For a 
Free Tibet; I grew up with all these folks because we all went to the same 
temple," Pham said.
Pham's brother, Donald, is a Buddhist monk living near Tibet. She recalled a 
phone call from her brother as he watched the protests in the city of 
Dharamsala in northern India days after the March 10 protests. Her brother 
stressed the importance of the protests in the non-violent quest for peace.

"My brother is a monk in Tibet, but that doesn't mean it's personal," Pham 
said. "I am a Tibetan Buddhist myself, but I think the important thing of 
Tibetan Buddhism is to see friends, enemies and strangers as the same. We're 
all people."

The Chinese People's Liberation Army invaded Tibet in 1950 at the end of 
China's Communist Revolution. After a treaty was signed between Tibet's 
governing Lamas and the Republic of China, Tibet was given provincial status 
in China with limited autonomy. Violence last March against liberation 
protesters in Tibet, including Buddhist monks, brought international 
attention to China's human rights record, resulting in controversy over the 
approaching summer games in Beijing.

In response to criticism that the Olympics should be kept separate from 
political issues, Pham said the event is the right place to talk about 
social issues.

"You can't talk about the Olympics without talking about politics," Pham 
said. "You're there to promote the values you get from your culture. It's 
not just about winning and medals."

Pham said that she and fellow protesters have nothing against the Chinese 
people or their athletes, but feel it's their responsibility to stand 
against the policies of the Chinese government. When confronted with 
Chinese-sided spectators at the event, Pham said she smiled back and felt no 
ill feelings toward them.

"There's no animosity toward the Chinese government or its athletes, but the 
Olympics are there to promote diversity and to be proud of your country," 
Pham said. "But if your county has basic violations of human rights, there's 
really nothing to be proud of."

http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2008/04/03/europe/EU-GEN-OLY-Olympic-Torch-Istanbul.php

Uighur expatriates protest China during Olympic torch ceremony in Turkey

The Associated Press
Published: April 3, 2008

ISTANBUL, Turkey: Police detained at least six Uighur Muslims on Thursday at 
a protest against China during the Olympic torch ceremony near one of 
Turkey's most famous tourist destinations.
The demonstrators were detained after they broke away from a larger group of 
protesters and shouted slogans just meters (feet) away from Tugba Karademir, 
a Turkish figure skater and Olympic athlete who started to run with the 
torch through the city. About 200 Uighur Muslims had converged ahead of the 
ceremony near Istanbul's Blue Mosque and the domed Haghia Sofia church.
The Olympic flame is on a global tour before the games in Beijing. Activists 
have called for protests following unrest in Tibet. There have also been 
reports of unrest by the Uighur minority in China's Xinjiang region. Uighurs 
are related to Turks, and Turkey is home to a Uighur community.
"Turkey, stand by your brothers," read a banner at the protest in Istanbul.
"We don't want a country like China, with a bad human rights record, to hold 
the Olympics, which symbolize humanity, peace and brotherhood," protester 
Hayrullah Efendigil said.
Police outnumbered the protesters and made it difficult for them to move 
around. Some tourists photographed the group.
Some members of the Uighur expatriate community in Turkey have been militant 
in calling for independence for Xinjiang, or what they refer to as East 
Turkestan. In the late 1990s, the Chinese leadership exerted a lot of 
pressure on Turkey to silence and withdraw any government support for these 
advocates, an effort that was said to be largely successful.
There is resistance to Chinese rule in parts of China's far-western Xinjiang 
province, which is populated largely by Muslim Uighurs and other Turkic 
groups. The Uighurs had their own Republic of East Turkestan during a short 
period of independence from 1944 to 1949, when China's Communists seized 
power.
Several dozen Turkish athletes, politicians and other prominent people 
planned to carry the torch through Istanbul, including a detour across the 
Marmara Sea to the Asian side of the city.