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China Blocks YouTube After Videos of Tibet Protests Posted •
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China "Holds Tibetan Dissidents"
BBC News
Monday 17 March 2008
Security forces in the Tibetan city of Lhasa are rounding up dissidents, exiled
Tibetans say, as a deadline approaches for protesters to surrender.
China has given demonstrators in the city until midnight (1600 GMT) to give
themselves up or face punishment.
Dozens are feared dead after days of rioting in Lhasa, with each side accusing
the other of excessive force.
Other parts of China also saw rallies on the weekend, while Tibetans in Nepal
and India are continuing to protest.
Qiangba Puncog, the Tibetan regional governor, said 13 "innocent civilians"
had been killed by mobs in Lhasa.
He blamed the unrest on outside forces including Tibet's spiritual leader the
Dalai Lama, who heads the Tibetan government-in-exile from India.
"The Dalai group and some other people in Western countries look at the
beating, burning and smashing activities in the riots in Lhasa as peaceful demonstrations,"
he said.
"No democratic country in the world will tolerate this kind of crime."
The exiled Tibetan government says at least 80 protesters died in the Chinese
crackdown.
Spokesman Tenzin Takhla said the security forces had regained control of the
city and it was impossible for anyone to hold a rally there at the moment.
He said there were house-to-house searches going on and a number of former
political prisoners were reported to have been detained again.
One Lhasa resident told the BBC late on Sunday that there was a heavy police
presence in the city - but signs of normal life had returned.
"The schools are now open and children are going to school but shops are
still closed as lots have been damaged and burned," he said.
Rocks Hurled
Meanwhile, in neighbouring Sichuan province, rights groups say seven people
were killed when security forces opened fire on Tibetan protesters in the city
of Aba on Sunday.
And in Machu, Gansu province, a protester told the BBC a crowd of people set
government buildings on fire on Sunday.
Groups of people also took down the Chinese flag and set it on fire, replacing
it with the Tibetan flag, he said.
Smaller protests were reported elsewhere in Gansu and Tibet.
China has given Tibetans involved in the Lhasa protests a deadline of midnight
on Monday local time to surrender to police.
The Dalai Lama has called for an international inquiry into China's crackdown,
while Western leaders have called for restraint.
Anti-China rallies began on 10 March - the anniversary of a Tibetan uprising
- and gradually intensified.
On Friday, demonstrators in Lhasa set fire to Chinese-owned shops and hurled
rocks at local police, triggering a crackdown.
The unrest comes as preparations for this year's Olympic Games in Beijing are
well advanced.
China has already faced calls for boycotts over its policies in Africa, and
Olympic chief Jacques Rogge said he was "very concerned" about the
situation in Tibet.
China says Tibet has always been part of its territory. But Tibet enjoyed long
periods of autonomy before the 20th Century and many Tibetans remain loyal to
the Dalai Lama, who fled in 1959.
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China Blocks YouTube After Videos of Tibet Protests Are Posted
The Associated Press
Monday 17 March 2008
Beijing - Internet users in China were blocked from seeing YouTube.com
on Sunday after dozens of videos about protests in Tibet appeared on the popular
American video Web site.
The blocking added to the Communist government's efforts to control what
the public saw and heard about protests that erupted Friday in the Tibetan capital,
Lhasa, against Chinese rule.
Access to YouTube.com, usually readily available in China, was blocked after
videos appeared on the site Saturday showing foreign news reports about the
Lhasa demonstrations, montages of photos and scenes from Tibet-related protests
abroad.
There were no protest scenes posted on China-based video Web sites like as
56.com, youku.com and tudou.com.
The Chinese government has not commented on its move to prevent access to YouTube.
Internet users trying to call up the Web site were presented with a blank screen.
Chinese leaders encourage Internet use for education and business but use online
filters to block access to material considered subversive or pornographic.
Foreign Web sites run by news organizations and human rights groups are regularly
blocked if they carry disapproved information. Operators of China-based online
bulletin boards are required to monitor their content and enforce censorship.
China has at least 210 million Internet users, according to the government,
and is expected to overtake the United States soon to have the biggest population
of Web users.
Beijing tightened controls on online video with rules that took effect Jan.
30 and limited video-sharing to state-owned companies.
Regulators backtracked a week later, apparently worried they might disrupt
a growing industry, and said private companies that were already operating legally
could continue. They said any new competitors would be bound by the more stringent
restrictions.
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