LHASA, March 24 (Xinhua) -- While some Western media
rashly accuse China of "violent crackdown" on the "peaceful protests" in Tibet,
some foreigners there disagreed.
"Many reports were not accurate," said Tony Gleason,
field director of Tibet Poverty Alleviation Fund, an American organization which
helps poor Tibetans through skill training and small sum of financing.
Surfing the Internet in his hotel, Gleason saw the
Western reports on the incidents in Tibet. In some reports, the riot was
described as "peaceful" and "unarmed" demonstration cracked down by the Chinese
government.
"The protests were by no means peaceful," Gleason
said.
He recalled that he was dining at the Snowland
Restaurant with his wife and one-year-old daughter on March 14 when a large
group of mobsters threw bricks and hand-sized rocks at cars on the street.
"I saw black smoke from the center of the city, and
there was more smoke from different parts," he said at the Gajilin Hotel where
he lives and works.
"I never saw police open fire to the mobsters," he
added.
Ursula Rechbach, from Slovenia, has worked more than
eight years for the Lhasa-based Project for Strengthening the Tibetan
Traditional Medicine.
The lady in her 50s said she was having lunch with
her colleagues on March 14, when the riot started. Her Tibetan colleagues
quickly accompanied her to her hotel.
"We hardly made it," Ursula said of the terrible day,
adding she saw from the roof of her hotel that young people in late teens
holding long sticks and stones in their hands, screaming, turning over cars,
setting cars on fire, and smashing and looting shops.
She later spoke to a few other foreigners in Tibet.
Based on what they had seen, they agreed that the riot must have been organized.
"You can't have it all of a sudden. It can be (happening) in one place, if it is
not organized. It must be premeditated, at least prepared," she said.
Commenting on some Western media accusing China of
"massacring Tibetans" in their "peaceful protest", Ursula said, "You can invent
some stories in order to sell better, but how can you accuse anybody if you were
not there," she said.
Guzman Escardo, who works with the Association for
International Solidarity in Asia (ASIA), told Xinhua that the local police had
been extremely polite, contrary to what the Western media presumed.
"The police on the streets are kind and polite. They
always smile at me," he said.
Escardo said he watched channel nine of China Central
Television (CCTV) and the Spanish TV to see what was going on.
"The local government often contacts us to make sure
I am safe. They take a lot care of me," he said. "I feel safe at the hotel."
Aside from foreigners in Tibet, tens of thousands of
Chinese netizens have lashed out at a number of Western media for distorting
facts in covering the riot in Lhasa.
According to the netizens, German newspaper Berlin
Morningpost posted a picture on its website in which police in Lhasa rescued a
young man of Han nationality assaulted by rioters. But the caption said
"insurrectionist taken away by police".
In a similar case, N-TV, headquartered in Germany,
was accused of using TV footage showing police with captured protestors in a
report on the Tibet riot. The footage had been shot in Nepal, and the police
were Nepalese.
The N-TV said on March 23 that it would check the
authenticity of the TV footage, following Germany's RTL television which on the
same day said that it "regretted an error" in covering the riot in Lhasa.
The RTL TV admitted that it had reported the riots
with a picture taken on March 17 in the capital city of Kathmandu, where
Nepalese security forces were confronting demonstrators with batons.
N-TV, headquartered in Germany, used TV
footage showing police with captured protestors in a report on the Tibet
riots. The footage had been shot in Nepal, the police were
Nepalese.Photo
Gallery>>>
BERLIN, March 23 (Xinhua) -- Germany's RTL television said
on Sunday that it "regrets an error" in covering the riots in Lhasa, capital
city of China's Tibet Autonomous Region.
The TV station admitted on its website that it "used a
picture in a wrong context." Full text
BERLIN, March 24 (Xinhua) -- Two German news organizations
have apologized after being accused of distorting facts in covering the riots in
Lhasa, capital city of China's Tibet Autonomous Region.
German news television N-TV on Monday admitted that a
picture and a video sequence it used on March 20 in a report about the riots in
Tibet had actually been taken in Nepal, a neighboring country of China. Full text
A CNN website picture shows people
running in front of a military truck. The original picture uploaded by
Chinese netizens, however, actually also shows mobsters throwing stones at
the truck.Photo
Gallery>>>
BEIJING, March 23 (Xinhua) -- Tens of thousands of
netizens have answered calls to condemn CNN and a few other western media
organizations for distorting facts in covering the riot in Lhasa, capital city
of China's Tibet Autonomous Region.
"The fairness and objectivity of CNN is cropped," said one
of the postings at the online forum of www.china.com., referring to a CNN
website picture showing people running in front of a military truck. The
original picture uploaded by Chinese netizens, however, actually also shows
mobsters throwing stones at the truck. Full
text
