The situation in Tibet has gone from bad to worse and has now created a humanitarian crisis. Buddhists in Syracuse are now mourning the deaths of several Tibetans recently shot dead by the Chinese police as they join in prayers for an end the killings and a resolution to the tensions in Tibet as soon as possible. However, it does not look as if calm will be coming to Tibet in the near future.
Christopher Bodeen has reported for the Tibet Sun "Young man demands freedom for Tibet, tells police to arrest him." A young man recently posted his photo with a leaflet demanding freedom for Tibet and telling the Chinese police, come and get me. Protesters rose up to defend him, and demonstrations broke out in two other Tibetan areas of western China to support the same cause.
During each demonstration the Chinese police have responded with bullets. In the past week several Tibetans have been killed and dozens have been injured. These demonstrations mark an escalation of a protest movement that for months has expressed itself primarily through scattered individual self-immolations. Bodeen notes that this is all the "result of growing desperation among Tibetans and a harsh crackdown by security forces that scholars and pro-Tibet activists contend only breeds more rage and despair."
The Chinese authorities now have the harsh choice of either cracking down even harder or meeting Tibetan demands for greater freedom and a return of their Buddhist spiritual leader, the Dalai Lama, which has been something Beijing has not shown any willingness to do. Robbie Barnett, head of modern Tibetan studies at New York’s Columbia University, has said “By not responding constructively when it was faced with peaceful one-person protests, the Communist party has created the conditions for violent, large-scale protests.” Videos recently smuggled out of Tibet by activists show paramilitary troops equipped with assault rifles and armored cars making pre-dawn arrests as tensions continue to mount in Tibet.
