page_title: 2008 Tibetan unrest
hierarchical_section_title: 2008 Tibetan unrest
caption_attribution_description: English: This is a map showing the Tibet Autonomous Region, the Tibetan autonomous prefectures and the Tibetan autonomous counties of the People's Republic of China.
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: 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 (Birthday of the Gautama Buddha), 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. Many of the international protests targeted Chinese embassies, ranging from pelting the embassies with eggs and rocks to protestors entering the premises and raising Tibetan flags.
  The Chinese government asserted that the unrest was motivated by separatism and orchestrated by the Dalai Lama. The Dalai Lama denied the accusation and said that the situation was caused by wide discontent in Tibet. The Government of the People's Republic of China and the Dalai Lama held talks on the riots on May 4 and July 1 of the same year.
  During the riots, Chinese authorities prohibited foreign and Hong Kong media from entering the region and forced those who were already there to leave soon after the unrest began. Two German reporters, Georg Blume of Die Zeit and Kristin Kupfer of Profil, left Tibet on March 18 due to pressure from the authorities, and James Miles, a correspondent from The Economist left on March 19 when his official tour ended. Domestic Chinese media initially downplayed the riots, but this changed relatively quickly as they began to focus on the violence against Han civilians. There was speculation that the violence might affect attendance at the 2008 Olympic Games of Beijing, China particularly amid pressure for leaders to boycott the games, but the calls for boycott went largely unheeded.
caption: Orange refers to areas in the People's Republic of China that have been designated as Tibetan (and other ethnic minorities) autonomous areas.
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