The violent police attack on Tibetans, in Lhasa on March 14, was immediately followed by the Chinese Communist Party's (CCP's) accusation that it was a "riot," "premeditated and carefully plotted by the Dalai Lama Contingency." Since the CCP put forth such a hasty conclusion, then it may have had previous knowledge of the "premeditation" and "plot." Further, protests had been going on since March 10, and the CCP allowed sufficient time before reacting.
In addition, according to the CNN report, at least 2,000 armed policemen were assembled in Lhasa on March 13; this would be enough manpower to completely control several major Tibetan monasteries and arrest 500 Tibetan college students. (Lhasa is only a small city with a population of hundreds of thousands of people.) Then, why was such a long-term protest allowed in such sensitive areas as the major streets of Lhasa and the Ramoche Monastery?
Who Took the Photos?
Of the footage provided by China's state-controlled television station, CCTV, there are only a few long-range shots, apparently take n from video security cameras, judging from their fixed focus and unchanging camera angles. Of the other long-range photos, most are obviously the work of professional photographers, with a very few exceptions that appear to be the work of amateur photographers or tourists.
Videos broadcast on CCTV showed Tibetan "mobs" using sledgehammers to break down the doors and shatter the windows of a bank building. These shots were taken from a nearby location and at a fixed height. That can only mean that the cameraman was either on top of a vehicle near the "riot" scene, or on a rooftop across the road using zoom lenses with a very long focal length. In the footage in which "rioters" smashed doors and windows and threw stones, the camera appeared to follow the "rioters" to photograph them. Who took these video shots? Could it have been the police, or CCTV staff?
In any case, the photographer had to do a certain amount of preparation to get into position to take these shots.
If the police took the shots, why didn't they even try to stop the "riot" since they were close enough to record the whole process? If CCTV had been able to prepare in advance for shooting the whole event, why did the state's police fail to take any preventive measures?
Was This Event Planned Beforehand?
Therefore, there appears to be a great possibility that CCTV or police planned and made arrangements for video shots of a "riot." If that was the real story, could we conclude that the "riot" was permitted or stirred up or even orchestrated by the Communist regime?
In an interview with Sound of Hope radio on March 18, a spokesperson in charge of the Central Tibetan Administration of Religious Affairs for the Office of His Holiness the Dalai Lama, said that on March 14 a female Chinese from Thailand witnessed a policeman in Lhasa disguised as a Tibetan who joined the protesters holding a knife in his hand. The witness later recognized the policeman on BBC news and news photos offered by the Chinese embassy.
On March 19, the CCP presented a video of "five innocent young girls burnt to death in the Tibet riot." Not a single photo of their corpses was presented. Further, according to the video, one of the endangered girls sent a text message via her cell phone, saying "People are killing like crazy here." However, no trace of "crazy killing" can be found in any of the video footage. It thus remains to be explained how a frightened girl who hid herself in a store could have seen or spoken of "killing"?
The international community should demand that CCTV present its unedited videos to international media sources or an independent third party for further investigation and analysis. Meanwhile, they should be required to produce definite documentation to the public regarding the photographers who produced and filmed the video
If their videos are proven to be false or manufactured, the international community should promptly stop CCTV from spreading ethnic hatred through broadcasting such videos to the world, and take legal action against CCTV.
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