Chinese and Tibetan supporters gathered in front of Kerckhoff Hall on Tuesday, in an unorganized protest that featured speakers from both sides voicing their opinions and frustrations.
As students, administrators and police looked on, protesters from an unaffiliated group supporting the “Free Tibet” movement spoke about the recent killing of over 100 Tibetan protesters in Tibet and proclaimed loudly their disapproval of Tibet’s lack of international support.
Though China does not host the 2008 Olympic Games until the summer, the government is already experiencing months of intense international scrutiny and protest about its human rights record.
One Tibetan supporter spoke vehemently against the injustices perpetrated by the Chinese government, explaining the circumstances of the killings last month and recalling the 1989 Tiananmen Square incident.
Meanwhile, Chinese supporters held up signs supporting the Olympics, which were also labeled with the slogan “One China.”
Marlon Fuentes, a third-year ethnomusicology student, expressed his disappointment with the amount of student involvement in the protest.
“It’s no lie that serious injustice does go down in Tibet, so I got up there because I felt so strongly about saying something. My comment was basically a message to the students here … to apply this education to make the world a better place,” Fuentes said.
Fuentes said he believed the circumstances in Tibet should evoke more passionate support from UCLA students.
Joseph Kong, a UCLA doctoral student and “One China” supporter, spoke about his experience visiting Tibet and said he believed Tibetans were free for the most part.
“On a local level, the Chinese government does not have a big hand on the Tibetans. They basically rule themselves,” Kong said.
Kong also said that Tibetans do not recognize the Communist Party of China, and local decisions are made by the Dalai Lama.
During the protest, Chinese supporters handed out packets that sought to portray Tibetan monks as the violent offenders during last month’s Tibetan riots and depicted the Chinese government police as victims acting in self-defense. The headline of the packets read, “One China, One World. We want justice!”
Chris Ah San, a fourth-year economics and music student who is also part of the Darfur Action Committee on campus, voiced deep frustration with the scope of the dialogue between the Chinese and supporters of Tibet.
“One of the things that we did want to mention is that we feel the issue has been framed unfairly. By mentioning terms like pro-game and pro-China, you are enforcing this very unfair dichotomy on us, as if the human rights activists are anti-China, as if the human rights activists are anti-game,” Ah San said.
Though confrontations between the two groups seem to be becoming more frequent and more intense, Fuentes said he believed that boycotting the Olympic Games is the wrong approach.
“I don’t think the Olympics should be boycotted. I think what the Olympics will do is put a spotlight on that region of the world, and I hope that some of the medalists during the Olympics do show some solidarity (for Tibet) in some kind of symbolic way. I think it could benefit the situation,” Fuentes said.
The protest concluded when administrators and campus authorities separated people who appeared to be on the verge of physical confrontation. The protest was wrapped up at 1 p.m. when the permit to speak in Meyerhoff Park expired, and the Free Tibet group was voluntarily escorted off campus for their own safety.