CHINA PARADES OLYMPIC TORCH THROUGH TIBETAN CAPITAL LHASA UNDER LOCKDOWN
Massive Chinese Security Presence Places Lhasa Under Virtual Martial Law for Olympics Propaganda Exercise

New York – Chinese authorities have placed the Tibetan capital under virtual martial law to prepare for a one-day Olympic torch relay, which begins today at 9am, Beijing time. Three months after a Tibetan popular uprising against China’s occupation began in Lhasa, thousands of Chinese police and paramilitary forces have been mobilized in the city. Checkpoints have been set up, paramilitary forces have been marching through the streets, and trucks filled with riot police are patrolling throughout Lhasa.

“China’s parading of the Olympic torch through the Tibetan capital only three months after a popular uprising against Chinese occupation is blatantly political and offensive,” said Lhadon Tethong, Executive Director of Students for a Free Tibet. “The Chinese government is wielding the Olympic torch as a tool of oppression over the heads of Tibetans still suffering under China’s brutal clampdown.”

An unconfirmed source in Lhasa has reported that Chinese officials have imposed an unofficial curfew banning unauthorized people from the streets until after 1pm when the torch relay concludes. The same source said that people have been told that they must not look out of their windows overlooking the torch relay route. According to a June 2nd report on China Tibet News, Tibetans have been “severely punished” for the crime of “creating and spreading rumors” regarding the torch relay.

“The torch relay in Lhasa is China’s latest episode in a series of betrayals of everything the Olympics represent,” said Kate Woznow, Campaigns Director of Students for a Free Tibet. “Parading the torch through Lhasa while Tibetans live under virtual martial law is China’s most egregious exploitation of the Games yet.”

Even before it authorized Beijing’s proposed Olympic torch relay, Tibetans and their supporters worldwide called on the International Olympic Committee (IOC) to reject any plans to take the Olympic torch through Tibet. Many people see China’s torch relay in Tibet as a blatant use of the Olympic Games to underscore China’s claims to Tibet. Eight Tibet campaigners were arrested on June 6th in Athens, Greece for protesting outside the most recent meeting of the IOC.

China’s Governor in Tibet has promised that Tibetans will be “treated harshly and with no leniency” for protesting during the torch relay. Tibetan exiles and campaigners have heard from sources inside Tibet that Tibetans are opposed to China taking the torch through their lands and are determined to protest. A leaked internal IOC memo recognized the possibility of unrest and suggests IOC staff and leadership express “deepest sympathies or condolences to anyone that was injured or killed, and their families.”

“With the way it has militarized the Tibetan capital, China might as well parade the Olympic torch through Lhasa atop a tank,” said Han Shan, Olympics Campaign Coordinator of Students for a Free Tibet. “Chinese authorities in Tibet apparently believe that Olympic spirit grows out of the barrel of a gun.”

Tibetans across the Tibetan plateau continue to suffer under a massive clampdown by Chinese authorities. Tibet remains closed to foreign tourists and journalists, with the exception of reporters invited to join three small, tightly-controlled government tours since the uprising began on March 10th, anniversary of the 1959 uprising against China’s occupation. Hundreds of Tibetans were killed in China’s violent crackdown against Tibetan protests, and at least one thousand Tibetans remain detained, according to a recent Amnesty International report. Buddhist monasteries and nunneries have been sealed off, and Chinese officials have touted political indoctrination campaigns designed to break Tibetan resistance to Chinese rule.

“It’s an obscene betrayal of the Olympic ideals that the IOC has allowed Chinese forces to terrorize Tibetans in Lhasa to ensure a triumphant torch relay through a city rocked by a revolt against Beijing’s rule only three months ago,” added Tenzin Dorjee, Deputy Director of Students for a Free Tibet, from India.

Some reports have inaccurately stated that the ‘Tibet leg of the torch relay’ has been reduced to just one day, taking into account only what China refers to as the Tibetan Autonomous Region, and ignoring the vast area where most of the Tibetan population lives, and where the majority of the recent widespread protests have taken place. After Lhasa, China plans to take the torch to Gormo and Kokonor (Ch: Golmud and Qinghai Hu – Tibetan regions administered under China’s Qinghai province) and the border town of Xining (only two hours’ drive from the town of Rebkong where on April 17th, over 100 monks were detained and beaten by Chinese authorities).

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An estimated 700 Tibetans and their supporters gathered on Tuesday, June 17th to protest China’s parading of the Olympic torch through Tibet and called for immediate media access to Tibetan areas. The protest was aimed at inspiring Tibet supporters worldwide one day before a Global Day of Action called by Tibet activists for June 18th. China has announced that the Olympic torch will arrive in Lhasa on June 21st.

Along with New York-area Tibetan community members, activists with Students for a Free Tibet (SFT), Tibetan Youth Congress, U.S. Tibet Committee, Tibetan Women’s Organization, and members of the Tibetan Community of New York & New Jersey gathered at the Chinese Consulate, the United Nations, and China’s mission to the U.N. for a spirited protest, dramatic political theater, and a symbolic head-shaving ritual.

In front of the Chinese Consulate, a group of New York-area Tibetan high school and college students and SFT members ritualistically had their heads shaved in solidarity with Tibetan monks and nuns in Tibet who have borne the brunt of China’s brutal crackdown on a popular, and predominantly peaceful, uprising against China’s occupation.

The head-shaving ritual concluded a powerful political theater skit staged by about a dozen SFT members. During the political theater, a Chinese torch-bearer with bloody hands who stepped over the bodies of Tibetans beaten and shot by Chinese soldiers. The skit dramatized the ongoing clampdown in Tibet, and the repression against Tibetans that activists assert has taken place to prevent protests during the torch relay. China’s Governor in Tibet has promised that Tibetans who protest during the torch relay will be “treated harshly and with no leniency.”

After the demonstration at the Chinese Consulate, the gathered Tibetans and Tibet supporters marched through New York’s crowded mid-town and Times Square, and then on to the United Nations. The group was joined at the U.N. by supporters from the Vietnamese Community of America.

The protest then concluded at the Chinese Mission to the U.N. where hundreds of Tibetans and their supporters made their message clear: No Torch in Tibet! Stop the Crackdown! Media Freedom in Tibet Now!

To view more photos click here

Video to come soon.

www.studentsforafreetibet.org

www.NotorchinTibet.org

1) INTRODUCTION BY LHADON TETHONG, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, STUDENTS FOR A FREE TIBET (SFT) INTERNATIONAL
2) TENDON DAHORTSANG, PRESIDENT, TIBETAN YOUTH ASSOCIATION IN EUROPE, ON THE CURRENT SITUATION IN TIBET
3) BORIS EICHLER, PRESS OFFICER, TIBET INITIATIVE DEUTSCHLAND, ON THE TORCH RELAY THROUGH TIBET
4) LHADON TETHONG, SFT, ON INTERNATIONAL MEDIA ACCESS TO TIBET

Below is the transcript of remarks by Tibet campaigners at a press conference at the Foreign Press Association of Greece in Athens, June 3rd. The press conference was broadcast live on the Internet and can be viewed at: www.sfttv.org. The remarks were followed by questions by reporters present in the room as well as by viewers who watched the press conference live online and asked their questions in an accompanying web-forum. Transcript may vary slightly from the remarks as delivered by the presenters but the following should be regarded as the official remarks of the identified activists.

INTRODUCTION BY LHADON TETHONG
EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, STUDENTS FOR A FREE TIBET INTERNATIONAL

Good Morning and thank you everyone for joining us.

My name is Lhadon Tethong and I am the Executive Director of Students for a Free Tibet International based in New York.

As you know, we are here in Athens because the International Olympic Committee is meeting from tomorrow, June 4th to June 6th. This is their last meeting before August, followed shortly thereafter by the Beijing Games. Meanwhile, the meeting also comes just days before the Olympic torch is scheduled to make its first stop in Tibet.

Two colleagues join me today. From Zurich we have Tendon Dharotsang, President of the Tibetan Youth Association in Europe, and from Berlin, we have Boris Eichler, spokesman for the Tibet Initiative Deutschland.

All three of us will speak briefly and we will have time for questions at the end of the session.

We are also taking advantage of the latest communications technology to broadcast this press conference over the Internet to journalists in Beijing and elsewhere.

We apologize now if there are any technical difficulties.

Firstly, Tendon from the Tibetan Youth Association in Europe will touch on the current situation inside Tibet.

REMARKS FROM TENDON DAHORTSANG
PRESIDENT, TIBETAN YOUTH ASSOCIATION IN EUROPE
TOPIC: CURRENT SITUATION IN TIBET

Good morning.

It has been nearly three months since peaceful protests by monks in Lhasa sparked a major countrywide uprising across all three provinces of historical Tibet.

Those protests, the vast majority of which were peaceful and targeted at symbols of the Chinese government’s colonial control in Tibet, continue today, despite a massive military campaign to suppress Tibetan national sentiment.

In fact, over 13 protests have been reported across Tibet in the past month, but of course with a complete media ban in all Tibetan areas, the global community has heard very little about these events and the ensuing crackdown.

In the past few weeks, more than 80 nuns have been detained in various incidents of protest in Kardze, an area of Eastern Tibet now known as Ganzi Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture and administered under China’s Sichuan Province.

One of these brave women is the nun you see in the picture here. Her name is Sangye Lhamo; she is only 23 years old. Sangye was detained last Thursday, May 29th, along with two other nuns, after they staged a peaceful protest and distributed leaflets in Kardze town. We have no information about her current whereabouts.

In another incident just one day earlier, Chinese forces opened fire and shot at Rigden Lhamo, a 21-year old nun, after she unfurled a Tibetan national flag and shouted “Long Live the Dalai Lama,” “Freedom for Tibet” and called for the “immediate release of all political prisoners” in front of the county government headquarters.

These recent and incredibly courageous demonstrations were met with a swift and violent response.

According to an eyewitness report, in the case of Rigden Lhamo and the two other nuns, “police and soldiers responded violently to the protest and the nuns were arrested on the spot, many got severely beaten up and stains of blood were seen on the street, with nuns’ robes and shoes scattered everywhere. The nuns were seen being taken away in trucks. People were too scared to pick up the nuns’ robes for fear of being detained themselves.”

The story of the nuns of Kardze is not unique in Tibet right now.

This second wave of protests is largely in response to arbitrary detentions, arrests, disappearances, beatings and torture that is now widespread in Tibet. Tibetans from all walks of life have taken to the streets in April and May to protest the “anti-separatist” and “political education” campaigns imposed on them by Chinese authorities.

Reports coming from Tibet speak of Tibetans’ widespread refusal to denounce the Dalai Lama, raise the Chinese flag and stand by and watch as Cultural Revolution-like political campaigns are carried out in their sacred temples and monasteries.

Tibetans across Tibet are living in an intense climate of fear. Military personnel have surrounded even the most remote towns and villages. Meanwhile, in some key areas of unrest, like Amdo Ngaba’s Kirti monastery – which saw large-scale protests in March – the monks are living under house arrest with their monastery sealed off and surrounded by troops.

At this point, the full extent of China’s brutal military crackdown inside Tibet is still not known as no foreign media or independent observers are allowed into Tibetan areas.

Most people are too afraid to talk on the phone or over the Internet for fear of being monitored and suspected of passing information. My colleague, Lhadon Tethong, will speak more about this.

Tibet is under a military lockdown, leaving Tibetans to suffer under a cloak of silence, while their protests for freedom continue largely unseen by the free world.

It is against this backdrop of suffering and brutal repression that the International Olympic Committee continues to give the green light for the Chinese government to parade the Olympic torch through Tibet.

It is unconscionable to think that while Sangye Lhamo, Rigden Lhamo and countless others are missing, detained and likely being tortured, the Olympic torch will be carried through the streets of Lhasa and other Tibetan areas, including eastern Tibet, where the majority of protests have taken place.

REMARKS FROM BORIS EICHLER
PRESS OFFICER, TIBET INITIATIVE DEUTSCHLAND
TOPIC: OLYMPIC TORCH RELAY THROUGH TIBET

Thank you Tendon. Good morning everyone.

Tibetans and supporters have opposed the plan for China to take the Olympic torch relay through Tibet from the moment the Beijing Organizing Committee of the Olympic Games proposed the torch route in April 2007.

The Tibet leg of the relay in particular was clearly designed as a propaganda exercise on the part of Chinese authorities to legitimize their brutal rule in Tibet to the world. China’s assault on Mount Everest with the torch last month is the clearest example of the political motivations behind bringing the torch to Tibet.

However, taking the torch through Tibet after the most widespread protests in 50 years is no longer just a political move, but an action that will serve to exacerbate the humanitarian crisis unfolding in Tibet.

The Tibetan people are in crisis and living under a state of military siege and yet the IOC leadership remains silent. They have resolutely refused to acknowledge any ability or responsibility to stop further suffering in Tibet by removing the Tibet leg from the torch relay.

Jacque Rogge and the IOC were silent when China’s Governor in Tibet made a statement on April 9th promising that Tibetans will be “treated harshly and with no leniency” for protesting during the torch relay. They even turned a blind eye when the Government of Nepal authorized the use of lethal force against anyone staging a protest during the ascent of Mt. Everest.

Tibetan exiles and campaigners have heard from sources inside Tibet that Tibetans are unequivocally opposed to China taking the torch through their lands and are determined to protest.

Despite our repeated attempts to initiate a dialogue with the IOC on this issue, they have refused to meet with us.

Instead of using its influence to protect Tibetan lives, the IOC has instead chosen to craft a public relations strategy in an attempt to prepare itself for when protests do occur in Tibet and lives are lost.

Why is the IOC preparing a public relations strategy to respond to a tragedy that is still in its power to prevent?

Last month, IOC President Jacques Rogge told the Belgian daily Le Soir, “We must now think of our activities in terms of human rights.”

We agree with this statement and believe Mr. Rogge should follow through with it by showing leadership – or at least a backbone – when the IOC faces this critical decision.

Rogge and the IOC have a choice between abetting a successful propaganda exercise by the Chinese government, which could dangerously exacerbate an already dire situation, or defend the Olympic movement’s goal of “building a peaceful and better world.”

And now, after the torch’s schedule in Tibet was cut by two days, some reports have mistakenly claimed that there is only one stop in Tibet. But this is not true.

There is only one stop in what China calls the Tibetan Autonomous Region. But the Olympic torch will still travel to Eastern Tibet, outside the TAR, where the majority of Tibetans live and in the regions that have seen the vast majority of incidents of protest in recent months.

In fact, the first stop is next week, on June 11th when the Olympic torch is expected to pass through a place called Shangri-la administered under Yunnan province. Shangri-la is actually in the Gyalthang region of the Tibetan province of Kham.

And then later in June, following a one-day stop in the Tibetan capital of Lhasa, the torch will go to Gormo (Ch: Golmud) and Kokonor (Ch: Qinghai Hu), which are actually part of Amdo province of historical Tibet, but are now administered under China’s Qinghai province.

If you refer to the maps provided to you, you can see these stops’ – along with those nearby in Chinese Qinghai, Sichuan and Gansu – close proximity to the areas of unrest in eastern Tibet.

As you can see, in places like Qinghai, or the Tibetan province of Amdo, the torch will travel to Xining (what Tibetans call Siling) less than 2 hours drive from Rebkong (Ch: Tongren) where just recently on April 17th, over 100 Tibetans were detained and severely beaten for demanding the release of Tibetans detained in earlier protests. Not surprisingly, tensions in that area are said to be very high.

Tibetan sources on the ground have repeatedly stated that they believe “Tibetans will do everything in their power to protest when the torch is in Tibet.”

They describe an atmosphere of increased fear and tension in the buildup to the torch relay as the authorities are taking all measures to ensure an undisturbed environment for the torch to pass through Tibet. This has resulted in even more restrictions than before.

According to various sources, Tibetans are stockpiling food out of fear that curfews will be extended, preventing people from leaving their homes when the torch comes in June.

One reported that “when the Olympic Torch is in Lhasa only local people and Chinese are allowed to be here. They did that few years ago too during the 50 year peaceful liberation celebration.”

In the unfortunate case that the IOC irresponsibly allows China to parade the torch through Tibetan areas under clampdown, the IOC must take immediate measures to ensure that international media be allowed access to Tibet before the torch enters. That means now.

And now Lhadon will speak more about this issue.

REMARKS FROM LHADON TETHONG
EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, STUDENTS FOR A FREE TIBET INTERNATIONAL
TOPIC: INTERNATIONAL MEDIA ACCESS TO TIBET

Thank you Tendon and Boris.

My colleagues have highlighted the current situation inside Tibet, an environment of repression, fear and suffering.

The fundamental principles of the Olympic charter are “the establishment of a peaceful society concerned with the preservation of human dignity”.

If IOC Executive Board members truly stand behind the universal values of Olympism, they should immediately withdraw authorization for China to take the Olympic torch through Tibet.

In the unfortunate case that the IOC irresponsibly allows China to parade the torch through Tibetan areas under clampdown, they must at the very least take immediate measures to ensure that international media be allowed access to Tibet before the torch enters. That means now.

This complete media ban directly violates the IOC’s only pre-condition to awarding China being Olympic Games – the promise of free media reporting in the lead up to and during the Games.

This commitment to media freedom was a centerpiece of Beijing’s bid for the Games, and in fact centerpiece of the IOC’s reasoning for awarding the Games to Beijing.

“The freedom of foreign journalists in their news coverage will be ensured,” says Liu Qi, President of BOCOG, in the Preface to the Service Guide for Foreign Media Coverage of the Beijing Olympic Games and the Preparatory Period.

Nonetheless, Chinese security forces continue to deny reporters access to Tibetan areas and at this time, Tibet remains completely locked-down – a no-go zone for the people who can provide independent information about the truth of the situation on the ground.

The IOC must take responsibility now to pressure the Chinese government to live up to its commitments and immediately allow international media access to Tibetan areas.

In only six weeks after the major Lhasa protests of March 14th, the Foreign Correspondents Club of China reported more than 50 separate incidents of interference in the work of international news media trying to report in Tibetan areas. The FCCC reported that foreign correspondents were detained, prevented from conducting interviews, searched, and had their reporting materials and information confiscated or destroyed. Furthermore, authorities have intimidated Chinese staff and sources, and in some cases ordered them to inform on the activities of foreign reporters.

In denying access to Tibet for international media, the Chinese government is attempting to prevent confirmation and coverage of killings, beatings, arrests, detentions, re-education campaigns and other such incidents.

In addition to denying foreign reporters access to Tibet, the Chinese government is actively repressing Tibetans and Chinese who serve as sources of information for foreign reporters, or who themselves write on issues sensitive to Beijing, including Tibet.

Last month, high-profile Chinese human rights activist in Beijing Hu Jia was sentenced to 3 1/2 years in prison. He was convicted of inciting the subversion of state power and the charges against him cited as evidence five articles he wrote that appeared online, and comments he made during interviews with foreign media.

Last week, Radio Free Asia reported that a Tibetan man named Nyima Drakpa, was arrested in mid-April in Sichuan province for providing information to foreign reporters. Also last week, well-known Tibetan writer and blogger Tsering Woeser – who goes by the single name Woeser in the Tibetan tradition – had her website hacked and her skype internet phone hijacked by people who impersonated her and tried to gather information from her contacts.

She was placed under house arrest when the protests began in March, has been harassed by police, and continues to face a campaign of intimidation for writing about Tibet.

These are just a few recent examples. The urgent matter remains international media access to Tibet.

Sun Weijia, BOCOG’s head of media operations said “We have no restrictions on travel for foreign journalists in China. So once they get the visa, they can travel anywhere in China.”

The Chinese government is betraying the commitments it made to press freedom in its bid for the Games. And the IOC has done nothing whatsoever to hold Chinese officials accountable.

In fact, in instance after instance, the IOC has served to defend the Chinese government’s backsliding on its Olympic pledges and on human rights throughout China and Tibet.

If the IOC leadership hopes to salvage a shred of credibility, they need to show a backbone and apply real pressure to the Chinese government to make good on its commitments.

For Tibet and Tibetans the commitment to press freedom is fundamental, as Chinese authorities wage a campaign of repression behind a curtain of silence they have drawn across Tibet.

We are joined by people worldwide today in calling on the IOC to do the right thing by canceling the Tibet leg of the torch relay. Besides contributing to the further suffering of the Tibetan people, the wrong decision risks tarnishing the Olympic torch and sullying the Olympic movement for years to come.

But as the IOC gives no indication that they will respond to the global appeals of for the torch out of Tibet, providing for media access to Tibetan areas is a life-and-death matter.

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Reporter Elisabeth Rosenthal writes that the “shift is, partly, tectonic. An earthquake in China’s Sichuan Province killed tens of thousands of Chinese, evoking an outpouring of global sympathy for China and turning it overnight from victimizer to victim.”

The article goes on:

“The protests this spring put Tibet at the forefront of human rights issue — they accomplished a lot — but I think the interest can’t go further right now,” said John Kamm, a leading human rights advocate whose San Francisco-based organization, Dui Hua Foundation, has helped free prominent Chinese political prisoners.

“Now the Chinese people are in a state of mourning,” he said. “I’m not suggesting that we stop putting pressure on China, but we should use judgment in where and when to direct the fire.”

Ms. Rosenthal goes on to write about the eternal difficulty of how underfunded grassroots movements maintain momentum and morale. She notes that since the historic events beginning with the latest March 10th popular uprising against China’s occupation, and followed by the Tibet solidarity protests that overshadowed China’s Olympic torch relay, Tibet groups have:

become more emboldened, forming new alliances and finding themselves deluged with volunteers and donations. About 200 new chapters of Students for a Free Tibet have been started in the past six months, in places like Estonia, the Czech Republic and the state of Montana.

But sustaining that momentum has been difficult. “It is a challenge to keep people engaged,” said Lhadon Tethong, executive director of Students for a Free Tibet, which operates on a budget of about $400,000 a year from a ramshackle office above a dry cleaners in New York’s Alphabet City. “There’s no substitute for China bringing the Olympic torch into your neighborhood.”

More on SFT with a thoughtful quote from Tendor (nice job, man) that I think perfectly encapsulates the sentiment that many SFTers dedicated to rangzen – particularly young Tibetans – have towards the Dalai Lama and his leadership:

With its guerrilla style “actions,” Students for a Free Tibet has little in common with the far more established International Campaign for Tibet, which shares a staid Washington townhouse with the Dalai Lama’s representative to the United States.

The International Campaign for Tibet accepts the Dalai Lama’s limited goal of greater autonomy and religious freedom for the Tibetan people. But the students’ group wants more. “Yes, we want independence for Tibet — that is what the Tibetan people want,” said Tenzin Dorjee, vice director of Students for a Free Tibet, who tried to unfurl a banner on the Eiffel Tower during the Paris torch relay and last year achieved that goal at Everest Base Camp. “We have the utmost love for His Holiness and respect for his leadership, and we know where Tibet would be now without him.

“But we are inspired not just by his divinity, but also his humanity. So we can disagree with some of his ideas.”

And back to Dui Hua’s John Kamm, who has put his negotiations with China for the release of political prisoners before the Olympics on hold “during the relief efforts:”

…he hopes that the earthquake may provide a face-saving exit for China from a torch relay that has often been more embarrassment than celebration. Already, the relay has recently been scaled back in response to the disaster.

“The Dalai Lama said he’s praying for the victims,” said Mr. Kamm, noting that many of the hard-hit areas had large ethnic Tibetan populations. “Maybe this will give the government the opportunity to cancel the relay in Tibet.”

Ah yes, the torch relay through Tibet. Chinese officials put the torch relay on hold for three days to mourn the earthquake’s victims but it seems there’s no intention to let such an important propaganda display as carrying the torch through recently riot-scarred Lhasa slip away. We of course agree with Mr. Kamm that the torch relay must be canceled. Before the IOC even authorized China’s Olympic Committee’s plans for its torch relay, our SFT troublemakers were up at Everest base camp saying “IOC: No Torch Through Tibet.” This remains a critical issue and we can’t let the sensitivity around criticizing China in the wake of the earthquake’s horrific human toll scare us away from pressing on with our campaign to demand the IOC do the right thing.

In concert with other Tibet support groups, SFT is ramping up our efforts to pressure IOC Executive Members before their last meeting in Athens (June 4th-6th) before the torch is scheduled to enter Tibet on June 9th. It goes to Gyalthang in far southeastern Tibet (an area now annexed into Gansu Province) and then comes back to central Tibet, including Lhasa, June 19th-24th.

To conclude with Tendor’s quote from yesterday’s SFT press release that I think sums it all up:

“In the wake of a natural disaster that has devastated many Tibetans as well as Chinese, the IOC is threatening to add a man-made disaster in the form of the torch relay through Tibet, a preventable tragedy which will compound the suffering of thousands of Tibetans who continue to face the Chinese authorities’ violent crackdown on peaceful demonstrations for freedom.”

View selected updates from the last two days below…

12:46 pm EDT Apr 29, 2008
- “There is a small police post at 6400m (ed: camp 2) on Everest and the one armed soldier does the rounds each day, with conspicuous sniper rifle, however they mostly give a friendly Namaste,” is the latest report to ExWeb from Everest south side.

- On Everest south side, BBC (expelled yesterday) reported that a tourism ministry official there, Prabodh Dhakal, said that climbers were not allowed to hold even informal chats with media, in fact, if any mountaineer talked to the BBC, he or she would be expelled. “We are doing this for our friend, China,” Dhakal said.

09:58 am EDT Apr 30, 2008
- International journalists invited by the Chinese Government to Everest’s Tibetan BC are ungrateful campers. Tired and sick from too rapid altitude gain; they’ve come to find a new 90km black-top road and a media center in Rongbuk – but no news to report, or any word on the torch’s whereabouts.

- In any case, most climbers are headed down after acclimatizing in C2 where at 6400m; a huge banner alerts everyone not to proceed beyond this point. A post with armed soldiers guards the spot.

- Everest is like a war zone; expeditions’ websites report little about their members’ movements between C2 and BC, and avoid making other comments. “Due to restrictions on Everest this spring, we apologize for the lack of in-depth reports from the team,” posted Jagged Globe yesterday. “We hope that this will change soon.” Also Brazilians Rodrigo and Eduardo, just back from C2, mentioned they can only use the phone with a soldier listening in.

- The doctor also said he had already treated many members of the military who had fallen sick because of the altitude. Meanwhile, a dozen more soldiers were reportedly on their way to BC yesterday.

Also interesting… there is a special hotline setup for anonymous reports from the mountain:
The “Climbers Without Borders” Everest 2008 hotline allows climbers, their relatives and friends to report anonymously from the mountain as long as the caller is known to ExWeb. Pls call (1) 206-666-2407 (from a sat phone pls dial 001-206-666-2407). State your name and message (your name will be withheld).

read more news from the Himalayas…

More from their post, First Everest climber down for Tibet:

The American reportedly joined permit with the Everest ECO expedition, led by Dawa Sherpa whose dad Ang Tshering owns the popular climbing agency Asian Trekking. The American climber has not been named and is probably just sharing the team’s Everest climbing permit.

Only this Monday Nepalese soldiers and police were authorized to shoot protesters on Everest. Apparently, police found the banner on the climber in BC. It’s not clear if he flew it or if he was searched for it. The officials immediately told the mountaineer to pack up and currently enroute back to Kathmandu; to many this American is coming home a hero.

UPDATE: Apparently, the climber’s name is William Brant Holland, as reported in this AP Article, US climber barred from Everest over Tibet banner: official: “The Kathmandu-based expedition company which organised the Everest permit for the climber identified him as William Brant Holland, and said the incident had already landed it in trouble with the government.”

View more and comment on pictures from bangkok demonstration post or view the entire Bangkok-focused blog: http://notorch.blogspot.com/

Maathai said she withdrew to show solidarity with activists over rights issues, including in Tibet where China’s crackdown on recent protests have sparked international anger.

“Yes, I have pulled out,” Maathai told AFP by telephone Thursday from the Tanzanian commercial capital Dar es Salaam.

“I have decided to show solidarity with other people on the issues of human rights in Sudan’s Darfur region, Tibet and Burma.”

“I have listened very closely to the message from the Dalai Lama about Tibet … and his desire to see the Olympics (go ahead) and the games not be disrupted. All of us who care about human rights issues are of course very sympathetic about the events that have been unfolding there for a very long time.”

Maathai also said she hoped China was taking notice of the protesters who have shadowed the torch relay so far around the world.

“They are having an impact. That is why we are hearing about them. I hope the world and China will hear their voice. They are not doing it for fun, they are doing it because they are concerned with the human rights in Tibet.”

The torch is scheduled to arrive in Tanzania — its only stop in Africa — on Sunday ahead of the August 8-24 Olympic Games in China, which Beijing hopes will be a showpiece for the Asian nation.

The relay has been dogged by protests in London and Paris, and in San Francisco where on Wednesday a massive police presence and sudden route change made the torch all but invisible to the public.

The torch on Thursday headed to Buenos Aires where pro-Tibet supporters have vowed “surprise actions” but no major disruption.

Maathai, who won the 2004 Nobel Peace Prize for her tree-planting and pro-democracy campaigns, said China was well placed to press for the respect of human rights in Darfur, Tibet and Burma.

The House has just overwhelmingly passed a resolution calling on the Chinese government to end its crackdown in Tibet and to enter into a substantive dialogue with His Holiness the Dalai Lama, H.Res. 1077. House Resolution 1077 was introduced by Speaker Nancy Pelosi and members of the bipartisan Congressional Delegation that met with His Holiness the Dalai Lama and the Tibetan Government-in-Exile in India. Speaker Pelosi, along with Reps. Rush Holt, Jay Inslee, and Hilda Solis traveled with the Congressional Delegation and spoke in favor of the resolution during debate last night, as did Chairman Howard Berman of the Foreign Affairs Committee.

Speaker Pelosi: “I was reading the paper the other day as the torch was going through Paris that one of the carriers of the torch said that what was happening with the protesters was ‘very unpleasant.’ And I thought ‘You think that’s unpleasant? Maybe you should be in the subhuman conditions that the refugees are in Darfur. If you think that’s unpleasant maybe you should be in a prison in Tibet for your faith in His Holiness the Dalai Lama. If you think that’s unpleasant maybe you could still be in prison from the Tiananmen Square Massacre, some people are still in prison from that time.’” http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I9nY-8AwnE0

Rep. Holt: “I have in my office a crayon-drawn Tibetan flag given to me during our delegation’s visit to the Tibetan children’s village and I keep this flag in my office because it reminds me of the human toll of this situation. Children and adults flee the villages of Tibet, cross the highest range of mountains in the world to reach the promise of a life where they can preserve their culture and have freedom. The journey is treacherous but children try to escape the oppression in Tibet. I am pleased that all the members of this important trip joined Speaker in introducing this resolution.”  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xcb_RgzAlcE
Chairman Berman: “China’s response to Tibetan protests over the last month has been tragically predictable. For half a century the Tibetan people have struggled under the repressive policies of the Chinese authorities. And sadly, the current crackdown is only the most recent example of Beijing’s mistreatment of Tibetans. As the world watched events unfold inside China, we were sickened, not only by the shock of seeing images of Chinese authorities beating Tibetans in the street, but also by the realization that these are images we have seen before and fear we may see again.”  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G9NZH51up20

These statements and this resolution come not from Tibetan exiles or activists marching on the streets of American cities, but some of the most respected leaders of the US government. This resolution is a recognition of the brutal oppression Tibetans live under, the courage it takes for them to rise up in protest, and the importance of speaking out on about the political weight of the Beijing Olympics.

Meanwhile, International Olympic Committee president Jacques Rogge said the committee would consider ending the international leg of the Beijing Olympic torch relay because of anti-Chinese protests.

Rogge told The Associated Press he was ”deeply saddened” by violent protests in London and Paris and concerned about the upcoming torch relay in San Francisco, where activists expressed fears Monday that the torch’s planned route through Tibet would lead to arrests and violent measures by Chinese officials trying to stifle dissent.
…
Rogge said the IOC’s executive board would discuss ending the international leg in a meeting Friday.

The IOC and the City of San Francisco should cancel the torch relay stop scheduled for tomorrow in the Bay Area immediately. The rest of the torch relay should be canceled as well and the IOC should rescind their approval for the torch to run through Tibet. This is not a hard decision. It’s time for Rogge and the IOC to finally do the right thing.