Protesting China: Doused in Red at Site of Ancient Olympic Games

The brief disruption [by Reporters Without Borders] occurred as Liu Qi, president of the Beijing Organizing Committee, was addressing thousands of spectators and dignitaries at the site of the ancient Olympic Games. It was broadcast live by Greek television, but China state television cut away to a prerecorded scene.

The Athens chapter of the rights group Reporters Without Borders said three of its members had staged the protest.

Moments after the disruption, a Tibetan woman doused herself in red paint and lay in the road in front of a torch runner while police officers arrested two other Tibetan protesters planning a peaceful demonstration about a mile from the old sanctuary.

Challenging China's Rule

The Communist leadership has faced the biggest challenge to its rule in the Himalayan area in nearly two decades after protests in the Tibetan capital of Lhasa exploded into violence on March 14, sparking sympathy protests in the neighboring provinces of Sichuan, Gansu and Qinghai.

Protests also have spread to Nepal and India.

In Nepal on Monday, police arrested about 475 Tibetan refugees, monks and their supporters as they gathered in Katmandu, the capital, to protest a crackdown on Tibetans in China, the U.N. said.

Chanting “China, stop killings in Tibet. U.N., we want justice,” protesters were marching toward U.N. offices when police stopped them about 300 feet away, beat them with bamboo sticks and snatched their banners.

A Dozen Recommendations by Chinese Intellectuals Urging Dialogue Between China and Dalai Lama

A group of prominent Chinese intellectuals has circulated a petition urging the government to stop what it has called a “one-sided” propaganda campaign and initiate direct dialogue with the Dalai Lama.

The petition, which was signed by more than two dozen writers, journalists and scholars contains 12 recommendations which, taken together, represent a sharp break from the Chinese government’s response to the wave of demonstration that have swept Tibetan areas of the country in recent days.

Not God: Dalai Lama

Last October, when the Congressional Gold Medal was awarded to the Dalai Lama, monks in Tibet watched over the Internet and celebrated by setting off fireworks and throwing barley flour. They were quickly arrested.

It was for the release of these monks that demonstrators initially turned out this month. Their brave stand quickly metamorphosed into a protest by Lhasa residents who were angry that many economic advantages of the last 10 or 15 years had gone to Han Chinese and Hui Muslims. A young refugee whose family is still in Tibet told me this week of the medal, “People believed that the American government was genuinely considering the Tibet issue as a priority.” In fact, the award was a symbolic gesture, arranged mostly to make American lawmakers feel good.

A similar misunderstanding occurred in 1987 when the Dalai Lama was denounced by the Chinese state media for putting forward a peace proposal on Capitol Hill. To Tibetans brought up in the Communist system — where a politician’s physical proximity to the leadership on the evening news indicates to the public that he is in favor — it appeared that the world’s most powerful government was offering substantive political backing to the Dalai Lama. Protests began in Lhasa, and martial law was declared. The brutal suppression that followed was orchestrated by the party secretary in Tibet, Hu Jintao, who is now the Chinese president.