Tear gas fired at Tibetan monks

Chinese riot troops used tear gas to break up a protest Wednesday by monks in Lhasa, Tibet.
Witnesses
told The Times of London in Beijing that about 600 monks attempted to
march out of the Sera monastery on the edge of town but were met by
soldiers and paramilitary police who dispersed the marchers with gas.
Although
the reportedly protesters refused to disperse promptly, the Times said
the troops kept their distance due to the large crowd of onlookers.

In the Tibetan capital, Lhasa, Chinese riot police have fired tear gas at Buddhist monks.
More than 600 monks protested against the Chinese occupation of Tibet.

It is not known if any arrests were made.

On Monday, several dozen people were arrested when around 300 monks marched in a peaceful demonstration.

In India, around 100 Tibetans have begun the third day of a march from Dharamsala to Tibet. Dharamsala is the home of the Dalai Lama.

China may be hoping to present itself in a postive light when it
hosts the Olympic Games in August (more...), but it is increasingly having to defend itself against international criticism of its human rights record, pollution and presence in Tibet.
On Wednesday, Beijing lashed out at US criticism of its human rights record -- despite the fact that an annual US State Department report published Tuesday had actually removed China from its blacklist of worst human rights abusers.

China's foreign minister yesterday said human rights groups that cite the Beijing Games in their criticisms of the Chinese government were violating the Olympic charter.
China is under fire from a wide range of activists and foreign
politicians who are using the Olympics to draw attention to China's
restrictions on free speech, religion, and legal redress.
"I want to say, that not to politicize the Olympic Games is required by the Olympic charter," Yang said.

Human rights activists Wednesday decried the U.S. State Department decision to drop China from its list of the world's worst human rights violators, saying that China's crackdown on dissent is getting worse, not better, as it prepares to host the Olympic Games in August.
"We and others have documented a sharp uptick in human rights violations directly related to preparations for the Olympics," said Phelim Kine, Asia researcher with New York-based Human Rights Watch, who said the State Department's decision comes at the worst possible time for activists seeking to pressure Beijing to relax restrictions on free speech, release political prisoners and improve human rights protections.