Joined: Tue Jan 16, 2007 10:41 pm Posts: 7563 Location: Calgary, AB Gender: Male
as far as I can see, no thread on the torch run and everything surrounding these Olympics, so why not. With all the fun they had in Paris and Cali, this is just too much fun not to keep track of.
Nepal authorizes deadly force to stop Olympic torch protests
Nepal authorizes use of deadly force to stop protests of Olympic torch on Everest BINAJ GURUBACHARYA AP News
Apr 20, 2008 01:38 EST
Nepalese soldiers and police guarding the slopes of Mount Everest are authorized to shoot to stop any protests during China's Olympic torch run to the summit, an official said Sunday.
Chinese climbers plan to take the torch to the summit of Everest — the world's highest peak on the border between Nepal and Tibet — in the first few days of May. During that time, other climbers will be banned from the mountain's higher elevations.
Police and soldiers "have been given orders to stop any protest on the mountain using whatever means necessary, including use of weapons," Nepal's Home Ministry spokesman Modraj Dotel said, adding that the use of deadly force was authorized only as a last resort.
The troops will first try to persuade protesters to leave and will arrest those who don't. If demonstrators defy all nonviolent means of restraint, troops have the option of using their weapons, such as in cases where a large group cannot be corralled. It was unclear if the protesters would have to attack or become violent before force was authorized.
Twenty-five soldiers and policemen have already established several camps on the mountain, Dotel said, adding that more troops could be sent if needed.
The torch relay — the longest in Olympic history — was meant to highlight China's rising economic and political power. But activists have seized on it as a platform to protest China's human rights record. It has drawn particular ire from those denouncing China's rule in Tibet following a a crackdown on demonstrations in the Himalayan region in March.
Tibetan exiles have protested almost daily in the Nepalese capital of Katmandu in front of the United Nations office and the Chinese Embassy against Beijing's rule over the region.
The United Nations and international rights groups have criticized Nepal for using what they say is excessive force to stop the demonstrations. Police have beaten protesters with batons and dragged them through streets while detaining them.
There are already dozens of mountaineers on Everest for the popular spring climbing season. Climbers spend weeks acclimatizing and making practice runs up the slopes before attempting the 29,035-foot summit.
They will be barred from going above Camp 2 at 21,300 feet until the Chinese finish their torch run. The harsh weather on Everest allows only about two windows — anywhere from a couple of days to a week — in May when conditions are favorable enough for the push to the summit.
_________________ Straight outta line
Quote:
For a vegetarian, Rents, you're a fuckin' EVIL shot!
Joined: Thu Dec 16, 2004 1:54 am Posts: 7189 Location: CA
Considering that the Maoists have won the recent elections there, I can't imagine things are going to get any easier for the Tibetans, or that they'll find the new government any more responsive to their concerns.
Maoism. Really? In 2008? Seriously Nepal, y'all are like fifty years behind the times.
Joined: Sun Oct 17, 2004 4:01 am Posts: 19477 Location: Brooklyn NY
_________________
LittleWing sometime in July 2007 wrote:
Unfortunately, it's so elementary, and the big time investors behind the drive in the stock market aren't so stupid. This isn't the false economy of 2000.
Joined: Sun Oct 17, 2004 4:01 am Posts: 19477 Location: Brooklyn NY
simple schoolboy wrote:
Maoism. Really? In 2008? Seriously Nepal, y'all are like fifty years behind the times.
PEACEFUL FARMERS
_________________
LittleWing sometime in July 2007 wrote:
Unfortunately, it's so elementary, and the big time investors behind the drive in the stock market aren't so stupid. This isn't the false economy of 2000.
Last edited by glorified_version on Wed Apr 23, 2008 4:13 am, edited 1 time in total.
Joined: Sun Oct 17, 2004 4:01 am Posts: 19477 Location: Brooklyn NY
That one took me a minute
_________________
LittleWing sometime in July 2007 wrote:
Unfortunately, it's so elementary, and the big time investors behind the drive in the stock market aren't so stupid. This isn't the false economy of 2000.
_________________ "Socialism never took root in America because the poor see themselves not as an exploited proletariat but as temporarily embarrassed millionaires." -- John Steinbeck
Police in southern China have discovered a factory manufacturing Free Tibet flags, media reports say.
The factory in Guangdong had been completing overseas orders for the flag of the Tibetan government-in-exile.
Workers said they thought they were just making colourful flags and did not realise their meaning.
But then some of them saw TV images of protesters holding the emblem and they alerted the authorities, according to Hong Kong's Ming Pao newspaper.
Tibet independence
The factory owner reportedly told police the emblems had been ordered from outside China, and he did not know that they stood for an independent Tibet.
Workers who had grown suspicious checked the meaning of the flag by going online.
Thousands of flags had already been packed for shipping.
Police believe that some may already have been sent overseas, and could appear in Hong Kong during the Olympic torch relay there this week.
The authorities have now stepped up the inspection of cars heading to the Shenzhen Special Economic Zone and onwards to Hong Kong.
The Olympic torch is due to tour Hong Kong on Friday. It will then travel to a series of cities in mainland China before reaching Beijing for the start of the Olympic Games in August.
Its progress around the world has been marked by pro-Tibet demonstrations in several cities - including Paris, London and San Francisco.
Rallies began in the main Tibetan city of Lhasa on 10 March, led by Buddhist monks.
Over the following week protests spread and became violent - particularly in Lhasa, where ethnic Chinese were targeted and shops were burnt down.
Beijing cracked down on the protesters with force, sending in hundreds of troops to regain control of the restive areas.
But it has since agreed to resume talks with representatives of the Dalai Lama.
Heh. I guess we've found one item we can't expect to get from China anymore.
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