Lots of stuff happening both inside and outside Tibet yesterday, including a huge demonstration in San Francsico of today’s Olympic torch relay.

Tibetan monks have again disrupted one of the Chinese government’s dog and pony shows for foreign media. These monks from Labrang are taking tremendous personal and physical risks to speak the truth to reporters. This is an immeasurable act of patriotism and an unquestionable statement about Tibetans commitment towards freedom from Chinese rule.

Despite international outrage and a month long uprising in Tibet, China remains committed to bringing the torch through the occupied country. China Digital Times reports on a profoundly disturbing statement about China’s commitment to stop Tibetan separatism through murder.

It is learned that on April 2 Zhang Qingli, the party secretary of TAR made a stern speech on the meeting attended by cadres who were at least county magistrates or department heads in Tibet Autonomous Region. He said that they should strengthen the effort to arrest the “Separatists”. Their arrest orders should be approved rapidly, these people should be arrested fast , then they should be prosecuted fast and killed promptly, too. In addition, he became more serious when he declared that “a group of people will be killed.”

The IOC should know at this point that if the Olympic torch passes from Mount Everest to Tibet and a single Tibetan is killed while protesting, the blood will be on their hands. This is beyond the point where even the most self-interested supporter of the Olympics and China’s rise in the world could reasonably think bringing the torch through Tibet is a good idea, let alone a moral one.

Lhadon Tethong, executive director of Students for a Free Tibet, explains why the Olympic Torch Relay is being protested by Tibetans and their supporters in a debate-style piece on the BBC News website.

Nima Taylor Binara, a friend I’ve known as long as I’ve been involved in the Tibet movement, has a powerful op-ed in today’s San Francisco Chronicle. Nima’s op-ed is a powerful deconstruction of China’s claims to Tibet, as well as a convincing argument that the protests we see going on today throughout Tibet are a far more meaningful and fecund uprising than the famed 1989 protests in Lhasa. Nima concludes his piece:

The magnitude and vociferousness of the protests across Tibet demonstrate that Beijing cannot forever contain Tibetan demands for self-rule. Trying to do so only leads to instability. Through their courage and resilience in the face of a half-century of military occupation and religious and cultural oppression, Tibetans have made it abundantly clear that they want more than ever to determine their own future. The world should stand by their side.

Bob Brigham has great pictures from yesterday’s Free Tibet rally in San Francisco over at Calitics.

White House Spokesperson Dana Perino left the door open on the possibility that President Bush will skip the Olympics’ opening ceremonies.

French athletes may have violated IOC rules by wearing badges saying “For a better world.” The Times reports that, ” Rule 51 of the Olympic Charter prohibits athletes from engaging in political demonstrations at Olympic events or sites.” So let me get this straight. It’s not political when China runs the Olympic flame through occupied Tibet, up Mount Everest, and back through Tibet (not to mention, through occupied East Turkestan). But it is political when athletes put on a patch that says wishing for a better world. Now that I’m clear on these landmark differences in circumstances, could the International Olympic Committee be any more obtuse in their refusal to be an agent for making the world a better place?

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi says China is making the torch relay “a political event” and commended people protesting the torch’s presence in her home city of San Francisco.

Reporters Without Borders has obtained an internal IOC memo that shows they didn’t expect there to be protests surrounding the Olympic Torch Relay related to China’s human rights abuses. Obtuseness strikes again.

Tibet Will Be Free remains the best place for news and updates from the protests in San Francisco. They will be streaming the events live again today.