page_title: 2008 Tibetan unrest
section_title: International protests
hierarchical_section_title: 2008 Tibetan unrest / International protests
caption_attribution_description: protest at the SF Chinese consulate
context_page_description: The 2008 Tibetan unrest, also referred to as the 3-14 Riots in Chinese media, was a series of riots, protests, and demonstrations that started in the Tibetan regional capital of Lhasa. What originally began as an annual observance of Tibetan Uprising Day and the Vesak, turned into street protests by monks, which had become violent by March 14. The unrest spread to a number of monasteries and other Tibetan areas beyond Lhasa as well as outside the Tibet Autonomous Region. Xinhua, the Chinese government's official media outlet, estimated that 150 protest incidents occurred across Tibet between March 10 and March 25, but estimates vary. Casualty estimates also vary; the Chinese government claimed that 23 people were killed during the riots themselves, and the Tibetan government-in-exile claimed that 203 were killed in the aftermath. Violence occurred between Chinese security forces and the protesting Tibetans as well as between Tibetans and Han and Hui civilians. Police eventually intervened more forcefully to end the unrest. Protests mostly supporting the Tibetans erupted in cities in North America, Europe, and Australia as well as India and Nepal.
context_section_description: According to Wen Jiabao, the Premier of the People's Republic of China, attacks on between ten and twenty Chinese embassies and consulates occurred around the same time as attacks on non-Tibetan interests in the Tibet Autonomous Region and several other ethnic Tibetan areas.
  According to an article by Doug Saunders published in The Globe and Mail, the protests were loosely coordinated by a group of full-time organizers hired by two umbrella groups that were loyal to the Tibetan government in exile. Documents were sent to more than 150 Tibet support groups around the world giving them detailed notes on how to behave when organizing similar disruptions as the torch made its six-month trip around the world. This included advice on maintaining non-violence and following the Dalai Lama's opposition to Tibetan national independence. (Protesters were to advocate a more autonomous Tibet within China). However, many of the protests did not follow this advice. However, Doug Saunders further published that the torch-relay protests had no relationship with the riots and uprisings inside Tibet.
caption: A Free Tibet rally outside the Chinese consulate in San Francisco, California, on March 17, 2008
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