Dear Friend,

I know you have been following the unprecedented events inside Tibet this week. If you are pressed for time, please jump to the end of this email for ways you can help.

There are now many reports of Tibetans being killed in the streets of Lhasa by security personnel. And many reports of Tibetans damaging Chinese stores. We now have photos of security vehicles overturned and in flames. And, a Tibetan in Lhasa told ICT staff that martial law has been imposed.

Reports of new developments are coming in every hour.

• Reports by doctors in Lhasa of dozens of wounded streaming into

  hospitals.

• Unconfirmed reports that soldiers are firing on Tibetans in the

  streets.

• Confirmed reports that the major monasteries around Lhasa have been

  sealed off.

• Three hundred monks from Drepung monastery and 100 nuns from Chutsang

  nunnery marched toward the center of Lhasa, stopped by armed

  police.� One was beaten to the ground.

• Unconfirmed reports of scores of Tibetans shot and killed including a

  16 year-old girl killed and taken away by Tibetans on Beijing Middle

  Road.

• Arrest of around 500 students from Tibet University, according to

  CNN.

�A Danish tourist just sent this email. . .

“Lhasa is in flames. There are tanks/armoured vehicles driving round in the streets - what’s going on is crazy . . . . it looks like a war zone. Almost all Chinese shops on the main street up to the Dalai Lama’s Winter Palace have been set on fire.”

His Holiness the Dalai Lama has issued a statement calling on the Chinese to show restraint and calling on Tibetans not to resort to violence.

This appears to be by far the largest uprising in Tibet since 1989, and if unconfirmed reports are true, there may be more Tibetan casualties in the streets of Lhasa than at any time since 1959.

We fear that as I write this, hundreds of Tibetans have been arrested and are being interrogated and tortured. We are still digesting the scope of this emergency and working the phones with governments, the media and others to bring pressure to bear on Beijing.

I want to let you know that the International Campaign for Tibet is currently working on many fronts to improve the situation in Tibet as only we can . . .

• Making preparations now to provide basic necessities for what is

  expected to be a large influx of new Tibetan refugees fleeing to

  Katmandu.

• Beefing up our on-the-ground field team inside Tibet to make sure that

  the facts of what is really happening are getting out, accurately and

  without bias, to world media as quickly as possible.

• Putting pressure on China to open Lhasa and other parts of Tibet to

  the media so the world can know what is really going on behind the

  veil of Chinese propaganda.

• Encouraging our friends in governments here in the U.S. and around the

  world to demand that the Chinese show restraint in their reaction to

  the protests.

As a friend of Tibet, I hope you can help us at this critical time with a generous donation so we will continue to have the resources we need to react quickly and effectively.

Please use the following link to make your contribution securely online:

http://support.savetibet.org/site/R?i=oE5GDu50ZwS8OKXOBU5qCA..

For additional ways to help out in Lhasa, consider the following:

1. Contact you member of Congress and ask that they call on China to

release all detainees, and allow international media access to Lhasa. To find your legislator, click here:

http://support.savetibet.org/site/R?i=0yOvZIL0sgCZHOjiXD2qSQ..

2. If you know any tourists in Lhasa, or others who may have direct

knowledge of what is happening in Tibet, please contact us immediately

at info@savetibet.org.

3. Events of support are happening around the U.S. and Canada. To join�a rally at a Chinese consulate or embassy in your area, please

use the link below to review the list of local Tibet Support Groups holding demonstrations:

http://support.savetibet.org/site/R?i=TxNq1OOCO9TKgnWTvluhAw..

And please share this email with friends that you know would like to help. We need as many people with us now as possible:

http://support.savetibet.org/site/R?i=zKbK62D5qegUeF4myUbi1Q..

I also encourage you to visit our web site often,

http://support.savetibet.org/site/R?i=zNUTJCskadAtresyIc7oBw, to keep up to date on what is happening inside Tibet.

We need to act now –� I hope I can count on you.

With thanks for your support,

John Ackerly

President

International Campaign for Tibet

1825 Jefferson Place, NW

Washington, DC 20036

activism, Buddhism, china, freedom, independance, monks buddhist, olympics, Tibet

Get the whole story here: Email from the International Campaign for Tibet.

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