Dalai Lama In Seattle

From the AP

The Dalai Lama arrived in the United States on Thursday for the first time since the recent turmoil in Tibet, serenaded by fellow Tibetans as he prepared to anchor an ambitious conference on compassion.

The exiled Tibetan spiritual leader came to Seattle a day after demonstrators disrupted the Olympic torch run in San Francisco in a protest of China’s treatment of his people. The Dalai Lama will be attending a five-day conference that begins Friday.

With the Dalai Lama in town, some community leaders said they expected counter-demonstrations from pro-China groups.

In Tibet, the recent protests against five decades of Chinese rule have been the largest and most sustained in almost two decades. China has accused the Dalai Lama of being involved in the uprising. The Tibetan leader has said that he wants greater autonomy for the remote mountain region but is not seeking independence.

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China Accuses Dalai Lama Of Trying To Overthrow Communist Leaders

From the AP

China accused the Dalai Lama on Sunday of orchestrating the recent anti-government riots in Tibet in a bid to mar the Beijing Olympics and overthrow the area’s communist leaders.

The accusations came as Tibetan areas were swarming with troops and closed to scrutiny from the outside world. With foreign media banned, information barely trickled out of the Tibetan capital Lhasa and other far-flung communities.

The Chinese government was attempting to fill the information vacuum with its own message, saying through official media that formerly restive areas were under control. It again accused the Dalai Lama, a Nobel Peace Prize winner, of trying to harm China’s image ahead of the summer games.

 

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Reporters Protest Chinese Treatment Of Tibet

From the AP

Three men from a free-press group ran onto the field of the stadium in Ancient Olympia during Monday’s flame-lighting ceremony for the Beijing Olympics, evading massive security aimed at preventing such disruptions in the wake of China’s crackdown in Tibet.

Three members of the Paris-based group Reporters Without Borders were detained after their protest, which occurred as Liu Qi, president of the Beijing Olympics organizing committee and Beijing Communist Party Secretary, was giving a speech. Police confirmed they had detained three French nationals.

One protester held a black banner showing the Olympic rings as handcuffs. The group said three members, including the group’s secretary general Robert Menard, managed to get into the ceremony without being stopped.

 

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