REVOLT IN TIBET---A BLOGGER'S ACCOUNT

B.RAMAN
Here is a blogger's account of the happenings in Lhasa when its people rose in revolt on March 14,2008. The blogger calls himself Kadfly

"The situation has gotten much worse. A quiet morning stroll down Beijing Street turned into running away with a crowd of Tibetans as an empty PLA convoy pulled through. Maybe 100 meters further there was a massive crowd of Tibetans surrounding a narrow alleyway. As it turned out, they were throwing stones and abuse at PLA soldiers who were blockading the passage to a monastery. After a minute or two, everyone rushed the PLA blockade and burst through. The soldiers left parts of their riot gear lying around and Tibetans started breaking them.

"Up until this point the entire situation was almost jovial: there was no sign of danger whatsoever (unless you were a PLA soldier). Then things started getting out of control. Shops were taken apart, buses filled with passengers were attacked, motorcyclists were stoned. We fled into the relative safety of a nearby hotel as attention began to be drawn to us and from there we saw the street and nearby stores get ripped apart and more violence. Before being ushered into a safer part of the hotel away from the street we also saw a monk (or at least someone dressed like one) direct an attack on a store or restaurant with a small Chinese flag flying from it.

"Currently there are massive fires on the street outside and basically every store has been gutted. At least two deaths have been confirmed. PLA troops have moved in with huge armoured transport trucks and put out some of the fires. A new fire, however, which is taller than any building around, has just been started recently (approximately 8:30pm). At around 2am things were very, very quiet. A few loud bangs but otherwise nothing."

Here are some pictures: (See 1 to 6)

(The writer is Additional Secretary (retd), Cabinet Secretariat, Govt. of India, New Delhi, and, presently, Director, Institute for Topical Studies Chennai, He is also associated with the Chennai Centre For China Studies. E-Mail: seventy-one2@gmail.com )