Chinese Crack Down, but Tibetans Fight

KATHMANDU, Nepal, March 18, 2008 -- Protests and killing spread across Tibet today, in defiance of the Chinese government's crackdown on the protests in Lhasa that began more than a week ago on the 49th anniversary of the Tibetan uprising against Chinese rule.

There were protests today across the Tibetan plateau, including in the Tibetan Autonomous Region, Kham and Amdo.

Although official figures are not are available, more than 100 people are believed to have been killed in the largest anti-government protests in nearly two decades, according to the Tibetan government in exile.

Initially, the Lhasa protests came in response to the imprisonment of Tibetan Buddhist monks, but as the protests have expanded across the region, they also encompassed a growing number of problems that affect all the Tibetan communities, including cultural, economic and religious issues.

The fact that the protests are spreading to towns and villages is a significant development.

"If it's happening in bigger places, that's understandable. But if it's going to start to spread to smaller rural villages and then towns, then they're really in trouble," said Robert Barnett, a professor of contemporary Tibetan studies at Columbia University.

"The next question is whether the protests continue, knowing that there is a high level of shooting death," he said. "If the protests go on beyond that point, that's a very serious indicator that people are questioning if the Chinese have earned the position that they've taken to be the rulers."

Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao said at a news conference today that the uprisings were orchestrated by supporters of the Dalai Lama. He told China's annual legislative session that the government had acted with extreme restraint in putting down the protests.

But the Dalai Lama rejected the idea that his group had condoned the violence.

"Violence is against human nature," the Dalai Lama said. "We must not develop anti-Chinese feelings. Whether we like it or not we have to live side by side."

One Tibetan scholar, who did not want to be named for fear of offending the Dalai Lama, said what most Tibetan scholars have long believed: "They aren't organized enough to orchestrate things in Tibet from Dharamsala."