{"id":3214,"date":"2008-03-14T19:57:19","date_gmt":"2008-03-14T19:57:19","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/zmetro.com\/?p=3214"},"modified":"2008-03-14T19:57:19","modified_gmt":"2008-03-14T19:57:19","slug":"tibet_fire_on_t","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.zmetro.com\/?p=3214","title":{"rendered":"Tibet: Fire on the Roof"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Economist<\/a>: <\/p>\n

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.
\nThe approach of Beijing\u2019s Olympic games in August is seen by many of Lhasa\u2019s residents as an opportunity to put their contempt for Chinese rule on display to the outside world. China\u2019s desire to ensure the games are not marred by calls for boycotts is tying its hands as it considers how to respond.
\nYour 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\u2019s old Tibetan quarter. They threw them too at those Chinese caught on the streets\u2014a 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.<\/i><\/p><\/blockquote>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Economist<\/a>: <\/p>\n

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.
\nThe approach of Beijing\u2019s Olympic games in August is seen by many of Lhasa\u2019s residents as an opportunity to put their contempt for Chinese rule on display to the outside world. China\u2019s desire to ensure the games are not marred by calls for boycotts is tying its hands as it considers how to respond.
\nYour 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\u2019s old Tibetan quarter. They threw them too at those Chinese caught on the streets\u2014a 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.<\/i><\/p><\/blockquote>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[39,33,9],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.zmetro.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3214"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.zmetro.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.zmetro.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.zmetro.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.zmetro.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=3214"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/www.zmetro.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3214\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.zmetro.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3214"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.zmetro.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3214"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.zmetro.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3214"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}