Dalai Lama calls for peaceful protests

The Dalai Lama said activists had requested that he not ask them to curtail the protests.

DHARMSALA, India (AP) — The Dalai Lama called Sunday for his followers to protest peacefully against Chinese rule but said he would not order them to end demonstrations that have erupted into violence in Tibet and neighboring provinces.

Speaking from the Himalayan headquarters of Tibet’s government-in-exile, the Nobel Peace laureate said that he felt “helpless” in the face of a Chinese ultimatum for protesters to surrender.

“The deadline is at midnight tomorrow. So now, every second, it goes nearer,” he told reporters. “I feel very sad, very serious, very anxious. Cannot do anything. That is helpless.

“This is something like the people’s movement,” he said, calling himself just a spokesman for the Tibetan people. “Morally, I don’t want to demand ‘do this, do that.’”

The violent clashes between Tibetan protesters and Chinese police threaten the Dalai Lama’s efforts to keep his campaign for Tibetan freedom pacifist, even as they focus the world on his cause.

The Dalai Lama has long insisted that only through nonviolence and a dialogue with China could Tibetans win greater freedom under Chinese rule. But his efforts have made little headway, and his people have grown increasingly restless — their anger and frustration clear in the recent violence in Tibet, and protests by Tibetan exiles around the world.

The 72-year-old leader’s dilemma was clear as he spoke to reporters, reiterating his commitment to nonviolence but at the same time refusing to condemn the violent protests inside Tibet.

“I support their protest in a peaceful way that expresses their deep resentment,” said the Dalai Lama, who has personified Tibet’s struggle for self-determination since fleeing into exile in India in 1959 after a failed uprising against Chinese rule.

He also said activists inside Tibet had requested that he not ask them to curtail the protests, which appear to have led to wide-scale bloodshed.

Beijing maintains that Tibet is historically a part of China. But many Tibetans argue that it was virtually independent for centuries and accuse China of trying to crush Tibetan culture.

“Whether intentionally or unintentionally, some kind of cultural genocide is taking place,” the Dalai Lama said, referring to China’s policy of encouraging the ethnic Han majority to migrate to the region, restrictions on Buddhist temples, and re-education programs for monks.

Nevertheless, for decades the Dalai Lama has espoused what he calls the “Middle Way” — dialogue with China aimed at giving the Tibetans real autonomy, but under Beijing.

The pacifist philosophy that won him the peace prize, along with his ubiquitous smile and tireless globe-trotting on behalf of the Tibetans, have made him an international icon with a large celebrity following.

Among Tibetans at home and abroad his influence is paramount, and nearly every day Tibetans make the arduous and dangerous trip over the Himalayas to join him in exile in Dharmsala.

But for many, particularly younger ones, it is only their deep reverence for the Dalai Lama that keep them from rejecting his path.