[經濟學人] 世界屋脊的火燄

[npchen (426)]

※ [本文轉錄自 CrossStrait 看板]

作者: npchen (426) 看板: CrossStrait
標題: [經濟學人] 世界屋脊的火燄
時間: Sun Mar 16 04:42:34 2008

經濟學人記者從拉薩發回的報道很清楚的把這次的藏獨抗議者形容為暴徒(mob)
這家抓住機會就會酸老共的右派雜志這次的立場有些不尋常

Fire on the roof of the world
Mar 14th 2008 | LHASA
From Economist.com

http://www.economist.com/daily/news/displaystory.cfm?story_id=10870258



THE Chinese authorities had been fearing trouble, but nothing on this scale
. An orgy of anti-Chinese rioting convulsed the Tibetan capital, Lhasa, on
 Friday March 14th, leaving security forces uncertain how to respond. For
 many hours mobs controlled the streets, burning and looting as they pleased.

The approach of Beijing’s Olympic games in August is seen by many of Lhasa
’s residents as an opportunity to put their contempt for Chinese rule on
 display to the outside world. China’s desire to ensure the games are not
 marred by calls for boycotts is tying its hands as it considers how to respond
.

Your correspondent, the only foreign journalist with official permission
to be in Lhasa when the violence erupted, saw crowds hurling chunks of concrete
 at the numerous small shops run by ethnic Chinese lining the streets of
the city’s old Tibetan quarter. They threw them too at those Chinese caught
 on the streets─a boy on a bicycle, taxis (whose drivers are often Chinese
) and even a bus. Most Chinese fled the area as quickly as they could, leaving
 their shops shuttered.

The mobs, ranging from small groups of youths (some armed with traditional
 Tibetan swords) to crowds of many dozens, including women and children,
rampaged through the narrow alleys of the Tibetan quarter. They battered
the shutters of shops, broke in and seized whatever they could, from hunks
 of meat to gas canisters and clothing. Some goods they carried away─little
 children could be seen looting a toyshop─but most they heaped in the streets
 and set alight.

Within a couple of hours, fires were blazing in the streets across much of
 the city. Some buildings caught fire too. A pall of smoke blanketed Lhasa
, obscuring the ancient Potala─the city’s most famous monument, which covers
 a hillside overlooking the city. It is the traditional winter palace of
the Dalai Lama, Tibet’s spiritual leader, who fled into exile in India after
 an abortive uprising in 1959. Some of the demonstrators shouted slogans
like “long live Tibet” and “long live the Dalai Lama”. One group trampled
 on a Chinese flag in the middle of a main road.

The rioting seemed primarily an eruption of ethnic hatred. Immigrants have
 been flocking into Lhasa in recent years from the rest of China and now
run many of its shops, small businesses and tourist facilities. Tourism is
 the mainstay of Lhasa’s economy and has been booming in recent years, not
 least thanks to Tibet’s first railway link with the rest of China, opened
 two years ago. The visitors are mainly Chinese.

There is big resentment too over sharp increases in the prices of food and
 consumer goods from the rest of China. Many residents of Lhasa, suspicious
 of the new train service, which they felt might encourage immigration, had
 been comforted by what they say were official statements saying the rail
 link would help bring prices down. But they have kept on rising, as they
 have in other parts of the country.

Residents had mixed feelings about the violence. Some celebrated by throwing
 rolls of lavatory paper over wires across the streets, filling them with
 streamers intended to resemble traditional Tibet scarves. Others appeared
 aghast at the violence. As your correspondent spoke to a monk in the backroom
 of a monastery, a teenage boy rushed in and prostrated himself before him
. He was a member of China’s ethnic-Han majority, terrified of the mobs
outside. The monk helped him to hide.

The violence was fuelled by rumours of killings, beatings and detention of
 Buddhist monks by security forces in Lhasa this week. Access to the city
’s big three monasteries has been blocked by police since the beginning
of the week when hundreds of monks staged protests coinciding with the March
 10th anniversary of the 1959 revolt. Dozens of them, residents believe,
have been arrested. On Friday morning, rumours spread that monks had been
 shot dead outside the Jokhang temple, the holiest shrine of Tibetan Buddhism
 in the heart of the Tibetan quarter. A couple of monks outside another temple
 were said to have been beaten by police.

A handful of riot police with shields and helmets (but no guns visible) patrolled
 in front of the Jokhang as the riots continued around them, while others
 stood in lines at the perimeter of the riot-torn area. But for many hours
 they made no attempt to intervene. After nightfall, fire engines supported
 by two armoured personnel carriers, moved down the streets putting out the
 blazes. But the police carrying automatic rifles atop the armoured vehicles
 did not attempt to deploy on the streets. The occasional bang was heard,
 but it was difficult to tell whether it was shooting or explosions in the
 fires.

During the evening, Lhasa television broadcast over and over again, alternately
 in Tibetan and Chinese, a government statement accusing the “Dalai Lama
 clique” of being behind the violence by a “small number” of rioters.
It called on city residents to support the authorities’ efforts to restore
 control.

But ensuring stability in Lhasa in the coming months will be an enormous
challenge for China as it prepares for the Olympics. Many residents expect
 a massive deployment of security forces over the weekend and possibly a

reintroduction of martial-law type restrictions, as in 1989 during the last
 serious outbreak of unrest in the city (some say the latest protests have
 been the biggest since 1959). But officials in Lhasa had been preparing
to host growing numbers of foreign tourists and Olympic visitors this year
. A long-term visible deployment of troops would be, to say the least, a
big embarrassment for the Communist Party.


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◆ From: 123.112.105.74
※ 編輯: npchen          來自: 123.112.105.74       (03/16 04:43)

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※ 發信站: 批踢踢實業坊(ptt.cc)
◆ From: 123.112.105.74
※ 編輯: npchen          來自: 123.112.105.74       (03/16 04:44)
推 uxormania:我想第三段第一句話可以解釋記者的立場了
推 chirmanmao:恩，應該算是統媒...
推 Tbilisi:我覺得問題可能出在看到小孩被攻擊
→ Tbilisi:外國人只要看到你是攻擊婦女或小孩, 管你有天大的理由都是
→ Tbilisi:攻擊者的錯
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