International reactions to the 2008 Tibetan unrest
The 14th Dalai Lama in India called on the Chinese government to stop using force, and later urged the Tibetans to refrain from violence.
[2] He restated said that he is pursuing greater autonomy for Tibet, as opposed to full independence,[3] and that he has "no desire to sabotage" the 2008 Summer Olympics.
In France, the route had to be cut short due to the protests,[71] while in London, attempts were made to snatch the torch and extinguish the flame.
[72] In San Francisco, the authorities changed the route to avoid protesters[73] and US presidential hopeful Barack Obama asked for the games to be boycotted in China if it does not take steps to improve its human rights record.
[74] Tibetans living in the Indian state of Meghalaya closed their businesses and staged demonstrations to protest the Chinese crackdown in Tibet.
[75] Hundreds of Tibetan exiles in India marched from the town of Dharamsala to the Indo-Chinese border, to mark their protest against the Chinese occupation of Tibet.
Police used bamboo batons and tear gas to break up protests outside a UN complex in the latest crackdown on demonstrations by ethnic Tibetans in Nepal.
The Ambassador requested an urgent meeting with Foreign Affair Officers of Austria and protested at the inability of local police to protect the Embassy.
Protesters set the Chinese flag on fire and sprayed slogans, including "Save Tibet" and "Stop Killing" on the front door.
Later on, as the torch relay began, another Tibetan woman covered herself with red paint and lay on the ground, forcing torchbearers to weave around her as other protesters shouted "Flame of shame."
[95] In Lithuania, a small group of Lithuanians held a peaceful protest in front of China's embassy in Vilnius on 17 March.
[96] On 20 April 2008, more than 60 bike riders protested on the streets of Vilnius, by the Chinese embassy, and demanded, at the Presidential palace, not to visit Olympic games opening in Beijing.
[98] In London, the United Kingdom, two protesters who had a history of interfering with the exhibition placed placards upon Terracotta Warriors on loan to the British Museum.
[102] Similar tactics were used by protesters the following day in Paris, who managed to force the run to be abandoned, with the torch traveling aboard support vehicles for most of its progress.
[108] On March 29, hundreds to thousands of pro-China protesters in Calgary, Edmonton, Toronto, and Vancouver rallied in the downtown area to urge for calm in the situation and calling for China and Tibet to remain as "one family".
[109][110][111] In San Francisco, California, on April 7, 2008, two days prior to the actual torch relay, three activists carrying Tibetan flags scaled the suspension cables of the Golden Gate Bridge to unfurl two banners, one saying "One World, One Dream.
[112][113] Among them was San Francisco resident Laurel Sutherlin, who spoke to the local TV station KPIX-CBS5 live from a cellphone, urging the International Olympic Committee to ask China not to allow the torch to go through Tibet.
The event, which erupted in small skirmishes with pro-Tibetan protesters, featured nationalistic songs and chants, and included accusations of Western media bias in covering Tibet.
[119] On April 13, Chinese-Australian demonstrators took to the streets in Sydney, Australia, and protested against bias in Western media reporting in relation to the Tibetan issue and the 2008 torch relay.
Major newspapers such as The Sydney Morning Herald and Daily Telegraph of the following day made no mentions of the event despite both containing articles on the Tibetan unrests, while television broadcasts reported only the Sydney protest (failing to mention the march in Melbourne) and significantly fewer participants:[120] about 1000 according to Australian state-owned broadcaster, the ABC[124] or only "several hundred" according to Channel Nine; Channel Nine also stated that the demonstration was concerned only about disruptions to the Olympic torch relay, rather than the primary stated target of media bias in the portrayal of the entire Tibet-related episode.
