The Tibetan Center for Human Rights and Democracy reports that following prayer sessions mourning the murder of a Tibetan monk yesterday in Luhuo, a protest started that was met with gun fire by Chinese security forces. At least one monk was shot and is now in critical condition; other monks, nuns, and lay people are likely to have been arrested.

The European Union has called on China to stop its violent crackdown on Tibetans. It is considering a boycott of the Beijing Olympics:

“If there are no signals of compromise, then I believe the boycott measures would be justified,” President Hans-Gert Pottering said in an interview with German newspaper Bild am Sonntag Tuesday.

“We must not exclude the possibility of a boycott of the Beijing Olympics. We want them (the Games) to be a success, but not at the expense of the cultural genocide of Tibetans,” the official added.

Amnesty International, French Prime Minister Anthony Sarkozy, and the United Nations have all been outspoken this week in their condemnation of China’s actions.

The BBC has another report on how Chinese cyber attacks are targeting Tibetan independence groups outside of Tibet, as well as groups that are working to stop the genocide in Darfur.

Much attention is starting to shift towards China’s expulsion of all foreign journalists from Tibet shortly after the violent crackdown on pro-independence protests started.

The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Louise Arbour, told the Canadian broadcaster CBC last week that Beijing needed to account fully and credibly for what is happening in Tibet.

“China is ready to open its door to 30,000 foreign journalists in August. Why can’t it open its door to one or two foreign journalists in Tibet now, when the world is equally interested in what is happening in Tibet as it will be in what will be happening in the Olympics?” she said.

The Albany Project reports on New York City police officers beating and threatening to kill Tibetans who were taking part in a peaceful protest for Tibet outside of the United Nations. As Student for a Free Tibet’s Deputy Director Tenzin Dorjee said when he was arrested by plain clothes Greek security officers at the lighting of the Olympic torch earlier this week:

“The Chinese government is oppressing me even in a free country, the Chinese government is spreading its oppression and
dictatorship like a cancer around the world.

“Instead of the world changing China, China is changing the world – dragging it in the direction of oppression.”

This is not what the Olympics were supposed to do. The presence of the international community was supposed to liberalize China’s human rights policies. Instead, we have watched them consistently regress to the point where murder is the operative crowd control tactic and there is not one single foreign journalist inside a Tibet, which makes up about 25% of the total land controlled by China. We have watched the Indian government, the Nepali government, and the Greek government play integral roles in stopping peaceful, lawful protests of China’s occupation of Tibet. We have watched the International Olympic Committee alternatively defend China’s human rights progress and refuse to dialogue with Tibetan independence groups over their grievances.

China’s actions in Tibet continue to be the rightful target of international condemnation. Tibetans inside and outside Tibet are clear in their aspiration for freedom. The voices from the worlds’ governments and NGOs must only become louder. And they must be prepared to back up their words with actions, consequences, and punishments for China’s systemic violence against Tibetans.