The Situation In Tibet #
I’ve rather ignored this story. A protest by Tibetan monks wasn’t that surprising to me, and that China would do it’s best to suppress it certainly wasn’t. This morning, I woke up — both literally and figuratively — and began paying attention. Says Reuters:
Protesters in Tibet’s capital Lhasa burnt shops and vehicles and yelled for independence on Friday as the region was hit by protests, prompting the Dalai Lama to urge Beijing to stop “brute force.”
Peaceful street marches by Tibetan Buddhist monks over past days gave way to the biggest and angriest demonstrations the remote, mountainous region has seen in nearly two decades, with anti-riot police patrolling the streets just months before the Beijing Olympics.
“Now it’s very chaotic outside,” an ethnic Tibetan resident said by telephone. “People have been burning cars and motorbikes and buses. There is smoke everywhere and they have been throwing rocks and breaking windows. We’re scared.”
This seems to have an eerie similarity to Burma, I do hope it ends differently. Also, I should note that it’s Mr. Fallows who made me really wake up, saying this:
But as you follow the news, be aware that this is something that could matter a great deal in many ways. More later.