Protests in Tibet - Firm hand reveals a hard heart

THOUGH there are less than 150 days to go before the August 8 opening of the Beijing Olympics, China has ignored the international mores that might have constrained their suppression of Tibet’s biggest anti-Chinese demonstrations in more than two decades.

Official sources admit to 10 deaths though witnesses suggest that at least 100 Tibetans were killed by the Chinese military. Sources suggest that the military have taken absolute control of Lhasa using troops and tanks to crush street protests by unarmed demonstrators.

The dark memory of the Tiananmen Square protests of 1989 gives rise to huge concern that equally violent measures will be taken against today’s protesters. The Tiananmen Square death toll is still hotly contested. The Chinese government says between 200 and 300 people died, Chinese student associations and the Chinese Red Cross says those figures should be multiplied by 10. Coincidentally, in Tibet this weekend, that same multiple applies to the reported and official death tolls.