Tibet Protest in Ottawa

Tibet Protest in Ottawa, originally uploaded by johnwmacdonald.

Tibetan protester looks back at towards his fellow marchers as they walked down Wellington onto Sussex in Ottawa. The mass rally, on 20 March 2008, was to show Ontario and Canada's solidarity with the Tibetans inside Tibet.

Here's the official Chinese Government's Position on the Lhasa Unrest as of 2008/03/15 as quoted from the website of the Chinese Embassy in Canada: www.chinaembassycanada.org/eng

"The recent unrest in Lhasa, involving beating, smashing, looting and burning by a small handful of people, has disrupted social order and undermined the lives and property safety of the local people. There is ample evidence proving that it has been organized, premeditated and masterminded by the Dalai clique aimed at sabotaging the Beijing Olympics, which has drawn strong indignation and condemnation from the local people. Their separatist plot will never succeed. The local authorities are taking effective measures to properly handle the incident. We will severely deal with, in strict accordance with the law, those who engage themselves in activities of splitting the nation. Any responsible governments will take the same approach to stop this kind of violence. We are fully capable of maintaining social stability and safeguarding the safety of the lives and property of the people of various ethnic groups in Tibet. The attempt by a small handful of people to disrupt the tranquility and harmony in Tibet runs against the will of the people and is doomed to failure. Lhasa is not under the martial law and no casualties have been reported among foreign nationals who were in Lhasa during the unrest."