Reaching all the way from Beijing;
A 15-year-old refugee from Tibet was taking part in a demonstration at the Chinese consulate on Sixth Avenue Friday, protesting the recent violent crackdown in Lhasa by Chinese soldiers against Tibetan monks. When the boy scaled the consulate’s security fence and unfurled a banner reading “Save Tibet,” Chinese officials emerged from the building and apprehended the youth.
The minor — who refuses to speak publicly or reveal his identity, fearing for the safety of family members in Tibet — claims he was manhandled by Chinese officials and subjected to harassment, said Tashi Phuntsok, president of the Tibetan Community of Alberta, who spoke with the youth following the incident.
“He felt quite strongly threatened and helpless,” Mr. Phuntsok said. The boy was confined to the consulate’s basement where he was physically restrained, according to the spokesman. “They blew smoke in his face, and he was ordered to sign a letter apologizing . . .they handcuffed him and twisted his hands . . .they tore apart his pants.” Mr. Phuntsok said Chinese officials pointed to the youth’s pro-Tibet T-shirt and reportedly told him “If you wore that in Tibet you would be shot and killed.”
[…]
Canadian law allows citizens to make arrests for trespassing or mischief, provided the suspect is surrendered to peace officers “as soon as reasonably practicable,” Mr. Jenuth said, meaning Chinese officials would have been obliged to notify police immediately following the arrest.
Two other defense lawyers contacted by the National Post said they would have expected an incident in a downtown location, involving diplomatic representatives, to have drawn officers, once dispatched, to the scene much sooner than 45 minutes. Mr. Balerud said he could not confirm when, or if, a call came in from the consulate. Mr. Phuntsok said protesters notified the police.
I’m surprised this incident hasn’t received more media attention. Chinese officials seizing and detaining dissidents is big news when it happens in Tibet, but not in Calgary?
Thanks to SDA, we can read the National Post article.
Is that enough news?
MSM boolean news filter.
China=good, Calgary=West=Conservative=bad. Probably something in there about the Olympics too.
Yea Internet!
I wouldn’t shed a tear if China’s misdemeanors continue to be exposed and the Beijing Olympics turn out to be a PR disaster.
CBC- Chinese Broadcasting Collective
Storyline – Chinese consulate security officials act bravely to prevent Tibetan terrorist attack in city well known for harbouring dangerous freedom loving individuals.
You can make up the rest from there, or just read it on CBC if they ever bother to cover it..
CBCpravda is more worried about the 15yr old held in Gitmo. you know the alleged to thrown a grenade at an alleged medic filmed making alleged bombs, son of the alleged to have raised money for Al Queda father, son of the alleged welfare recipients , brother of the alleged- but publicly stating – Americans should be killed-bag sisters.
CBCpravda All Khadr , All the Time.
I read that in SAN FRANCISCO they have now prohibited protesters fromgetting with in a certian distence of those carrying the olympic tourch. BOYCOTT THE OLLMPICS
Well he was trespassing….
However the simple thing would have been to call the local fuzz and have him arrested.
Let’s start a poll as to when the first blatantly pro Chinese judging will be do at the Olympics.
Just a tip for future protesters of any stripe:
Don’t actually ever enter the grounds of the diplomatic mission you’re protesting.
Because once you do, you fall immediately into a very grey area covered by the conventions of diplomacy. The members of that mission have a certain recognized status; the worse thing they can possibly face is to be “png” and expelled from the country. You will not get satisfaction from the courts. And their country willl probably retaliate by expelling our folks.
And remember, the international diplomatic conventions that protect the Chinese mission here are the same ones we rely on to protect our own mission(s) in China.
If we do not respect their mission, they won’t respect ours and, should the time come when say, a Tibetan dissident might seek shelter in the Canadian Embassy in Beijing, there’ll be nothing to stop the People’s Armed Police from just walking in and nabbing him.
So, once again: protest yes, but don’t go inside…
But if we boycott the Olympics all those CBC so-called reporters would have no excuse to spend our tax money on luxurious trips to Bejing and have tea with Uncle Mo…
While I appreciate the goals and aspirations of our athletes, I’m all for boycotting the Bejing Olymics.
If a consulate is considered territory of the country it represents as in the case of embassies, then the little pecker is lucky he was released at all.
I guess there was no MSM coverage because of no Taliban Jack appearance. Priorities, ya know.
JJM–well said!
Hey, they are just as friendly as the East German border guards!!
Speaking out is always a dangerous preoccupation in any Communist country.
You are always just moments away from a ‘high speed lead poisoning’.
Cheers
Hans-Christian Georg Rupprecht BGS, PDP, CFP
Commander in Chief
Frankenstein Battalion
2nd Squadron: Ulanen-(Lancers) Regiment Großherzog Friedrich von Baden(Rheinisches) Nr.7(Saarbrucken)
Knecht Rupprecht Division
Hans Corps
1st Saint Nicolaas Army
Army Group “True North”
JJM is right. The territory of an embassy or consulate is ‘protected’ from the host country. So, in China, if you make your way into the Canadian embassy, and are actually allowed in – you’re within Canadian soverignty.
‘Citizen’s arrest’? The Chinese officials can’t make a citizen’s arrest in Canada; they aren’t Canadian citizens.
As for the ‘blew smoke in my face’ and ‘harassment’ etc – these are subjective. Heck, the guy standing next to me on the street, waiting for the light to change, is blowing smoke in my face…
The boy should not have scaled the fence into their ‘sovereign territory’. It has nothing to do with his Tibetan protest.
He was trespassing on sovereign Chinese territory.
I agree, boycott the olympics and I could care less if China retaliates and boycotts the games in BC. Save cdn taxpayers megatons of money by keeping all those cbc guys/gals home. I know I will never donate to any fundraisers for athelets if they go to China.
In this warped dominion blowing second hand smoke in someone’s face is tantamount to attempted murder. ehy not charges?
And the tearing of his pants off … did they have a catholic priest in on that interrogation. Light a candle.
This is going somewhat unnoticed in Calgary because unlike Vancouver and Toronto, there are far fewer caring metro guys on some sort of dole whose avocation is shit disturbing. Everyone in Calgary is hard at work supporting the caring metro guys in the rest of Canada.
Let’s just don’t go to China nor support their products, not watch their Olympics on TV. That’s better than wearing a stupid T-Shirt.
I saw a kid reading a ‘Free Tibet’ sign the other day and he asked him mom “What’s a Tibet and can I have one?” The mom said “it’s nothing and you can’t have one.”
I think a Che Guevara T-Shirt is much cooler anyway.
Not really much sympathy here. The fellow should understand the principle of extraterritoriality before he tries a stunt like that again.
No, don’t boycott the Chinese olympics. It’s very important for China to move into the modern democratic world. Isolating it will actually prevent such a change.
China is already moving into the market or capitalist economy; it is doing this ‘from the ground up’ rather than a top-down social engineering. Democracy will follow.
Instead, the world should, as Harper has done, openly chastize China but continue to work with them.
The Eastern socialization is that one doesn’t say things openly; the ‘face’ is always accepting. To criticize openly shames the Eastern mindset. So – do it. Criticize openly; ;they won’t like that and will attempt, angrily, to change. But, to reject them completely may salve our own sense of moral superiority but it won’t do a thing to help China change and modernize. They’ll just retreat into isolation.
The Olympics are an important step to modernizing China. China wants to be part of the global world; it doesn’t want to be isolate anymore.
The Olympics are forcing China to examine itself. They are being forced to deal with their massive pollution, since countries are worried about their athletes. Forced to deal with unsafe food products – the US is bringing its own food and water. Forced to deal with ‘normative Chinese behaviour’ – such as spitting, throwing all garbage into the street, ignoring line-ups at stores where the Chinese norm is to push your way through.
I know of Chinese delegations to other countries, such as Australia, where the Chinese are told they must not spit, must not throw garbage into the streets; the reason for the latter is because the ‘Australian population are fewer in number and they don’t have the workers to pick up after everyone’.
Don’t boycott them. Comment, criticize, talk openly, and enable them to modernize and be part of the global community.
I wouldn’t trust Kevin Libin or the National Yellow Badges Post – who are engaged in a deliberate collusion to supress reporting of the terrorist Native uprising in Caledonia – to get the facts straight under any circumstances.
For all we know the kid in question isn’t even Tibetan and the unverified story is torqued all to hell.
If China is guilty of ethnic cleansing then so is Canada on a much greater scale and so is the USA. Additionally, it is difficult to buy that a bunch of left wing atheists want Tibet to become a backwards peasant oppressing theocracy, which is what is was before the CPC took over.
Canada and the USA guilty of ethnic cleansing on a greater scale. those numbers I gotta see.
from the Great Leap Forward —
In the meantime, chaos in the collectives and unfortunate climatic conditions resulted in widespread famine, while Mao continued to export grain to “save face” with the outside world. According to various sources,[6] the death toll due to famine may have been as high as 20 to 30 million
“Canada and the USA guilty of ethnic cleansing on a greater scale. those numbers I gotta see.”
The Hmong settlement in Wisconsin and the Somali settlement in Maine are both official and deliberate attempts by the American government to make both states less white. That’s the textbook definition of ethnic cleansing right there. And you don’t read about it in the papers.
As for Canada, with nearly half a million immigrants arriving each year with zero standards in place and a deliberate multicultural policy, that too is the very definition of ethnic cleansing, showing zero respect for the generations of men and women who created a country that people wanted to immigrate to.
Contrary to the politically correct ET, I urge you to boycott the Chinese summer Olympics.
To chastise or insult the Chinese verbally is like yelling at your adolescent kid and thinking he will now behave. Plus I don’t have the phone number of anyone in China and I don’t speak the language, so only Harper of governments have that opportunity and they won’t use it often enough.
Actions speak louder than words and doing something to make the point that you are serious about is far more effective and is also a great insult.
ET is all about verbosity, but action is the better way to get things done. For best results, boycott all that is Chinese as best you can .
As for Canada, with nearly half a million immigrants arriving each year with zero standards in place and a deliberate multicultural policy, that too is the very definition of ethnic cleansing, showing zero respect for the generations of men and women who created a country that people wanted to immigrate to.
you need a new dictionary. looks like your logic is backwards.
France is considering boycotting the opening of the Games. I’m still waiting for a Western nation to stand up and fully boycott the Games based on China’s human rights record. But given the abject moral relevance of our times I doubt anyone in government even possesses the moral clarity, much less the courage, to actually pull out teams.
Semi-related data point:
“Mao’s Kitchen” is still alive and thriving in Venice, California. Still trendy. Still ‘chic’.
“I’m still waiting for a Western nation to stand up and fully boycott the Games based on China’s human rights record.”
China’s human rights record is arguably superior to Canada’s.
China jails criminals, Canada does not.
Canadian taxes are much higher than China’s and constitute indentured servitude.
Canadian media is less free, less honest, and less grammatically proficient at the English language than their Chinese counterparts.
The Chinese economy is significantly freer, more dynamic, and technologically superior to the stagnant resource based Canadian economy.
I’m not sure if the mission falls under “diplomatic” status. Can a foreign country have embassys and such, all over the place?
As far as I’m concerned, diplomatic territory/consulates belong in only ONE city,the capital, which is Ottawa. Where we can keep an eye on’em, along with the other, ah characters…
rather than boycott the Olympics which never worked against the Soviet Union, boycott the opening ceremonies. It would be very obvious and very embarrassing for China.
ET said: “China is already moving into the market or capitalist economy; it is doing this ‘from the ground up’ rather than a top-down social engineering. Democracy will follow.”
Ever hear of “Potemkin’s Village”? Hey; it fooled Catherine the Great.
China is also increasing it’s military size by ~13% per year and has been doing so for decades. I guess they just like men in uniform.
If I understand international law correctly, isn’t the Consulate considered Chinese soil? As such, by scaling the fence, he’s entering Chinese territory.
Not that I agree with the actions of the Consulate staff, however. But I find that many people who engage in protesting really don’t understand the law to well.
No, john west, kindly get your terminology correct. I’m not ‘politically correct’ which is a metaphor for relativism. I’m not talking about accepting the Chinese ‘normative mode’. I’m talking about the best strategy to get them to change. Your strategy of ignoring them or angrily rejecting them won’t work.
I’m psychologically realistic, in answer to the question – How does one re-socialize an individual (or nation)? By isolation? By punishment? Or, by networking, showing them how the majority behaves? Hmmm?
Don’t trivialize the situation by your irrelevant red herrings. Working with them isn’t ‘yelling at your kids’; that’s silly. It’s going there and bringing your own food because you tell them you are worried about the lack of health standards.
And the fact that you don’t speak Chinese is trivial. They speak English. You could even write your concerns to their Embassy in Ottawa. In English. As you say: Actions speak louder than words. So- go ahead. Write them. Or are you insisting, like a Liberal/NDP, that your government do everything for you?
Oh, and don’t move into ad hominem (all about verbosity); that’s childish. Go and write your letter. Act. Don’t just talk on SDA.
Don’t buy anything Chinese. Heh. Act. That will help. And write the Embassy explaining WHY you are checking each label of clothing, shoes, each label on tools, toys etc etc. The worker in China, of course, hasn’t a clue about your anger. So, ACT. Write the Chinese Embassy.
Eastern Paul – all nations have an embassy in the capital of a country, and consulates in key cities such as provincial capitals. These are really necessary. The consulates work with local businesses to assist international trade etc – and, they assist people who want to visit, who require a visa, etc, etc. I’m sure you know fo the large US consulate in Toronto. There’s a Chinese consulate in Toronto – an extremely busy one.
I think the point about Canadian law and the apprehension of suspects is substantially wide of the mark.
Embassies are sovereign territory of the nations to which they belong. If he was confined in the basement, he was subject only to Chinese law. However, the act of removing him from the consular fence and transporting him over its perimeter is basically kidnapping, as he was forcibly removed from Canada for the duration of time spent in Chinese custody.
stagnant resource based Canadian economy.
Hmmm, does it pay the bills? Or does subsidized car, aircraft, rail car manufacturing pay the bills? resouces are extracted to supply your manufacturing processes and to supply the fuels, lubricants etc to move your subsidized car, air, train manufacturing products, to move other products to market. Besides, we don’t consume all that we produce so we sell our products to the world. Everbody does it.
And ET, why are you posting here then, and are you writing the Chinesse as you suggest?
jim – where do you find the information that the boy was ‘on the embassy fence’ and was removed by the Chinese? How could he unfurl a flag while clinging to a fence? I suppose it could be done, but, I still have to conclude: he was trespassing. It was their property.
I think if a group of Chinese in Beijing were protesting at the Canadian embassy on behalf of the ___, and one climbed over the fence, I think we’d apprehend him and hand him over to the Chinese police. No?
jt – Why should I write the Chinese embassy? I’m not advocating boycott of their goods or the Beijing games. It’s John West who is the advocate for both. I’m suggesting that, since he wants action, that he act. He should outline his concerns to the Chinese Embassy in Ottawa.
Christian Conservative – one pedantic correction, but it is somewhat important. The Chinese consulate is NOT considered part of Chinese soil – it is still Canadian territory but is in almost all respects treated as Chinese.
I think it’s fair to say our protagonist entered the premises when he began scaling the fence.
funny thing , we do what we do well. we have resources , we produce and sell them.
they have labour. they build things and sell them.
Im still waiting on figures that say the 40 million folks they killed were nicely evenly distributed and not an ethnic or a politcal cleansing that was not too bad compared to anything we have done here in Canaduh?
While a embassy is considered foreign soil belonging to the country in question, I am not sure if the same status is granted to a consulate? If not the guards could be charged with assault and illegal confinement.
ET – Neither am I pushing for a boycot, but you seem to be expounding on what others should do or say on this particular subject, Act. Don’t just talk on SDA. So, why are you posting here?
lot mo protest come before summer game
Don’t boycott the Olympics. Punishes the athletes, accomplishes nothing.
Instead, attend the Olympics; affix a Tibetan flag to one shoulder of the national uniform, and a Falun Gong logo or symbol to the other.
That would make a much greater statement, IMHO, than simply not showing up. I can’t think of too many other peaceful ways of pissing the Chinese off to that extent.
Agreed, Darrell.
Lesson 1: Don’t screw with Maurice Strong’s interests in China.
“and a Falun Gong logo or symbol ”
LOL. Falun Gong’s symbol is the Swastika.
images.google.ca/images?hl=en&q=falun+gong&um=1&ie=UTF-8&sa=N&tab=wi
I boycott China all the time, particularly North Industries Group.
jt – I’m missing your point.
Others are ‘expounding on what others should do or say on this subject’. Some are saying ‘boycott the Olympics’; others are saying ‘don’t buy Chinese goods’. Those are actions. I’m saying – Don’t do a or b; if you are upset, then do ‘c’ – write the Embassy.
I’m not advocating a,b or c for myself.
Embassies and consulates have what is called ‘extraterritorial status’; they are the sovereign territory of that embassy/consulate’s nation. The staff have diplomatic immunity and are not subject to the local laws. That includes the UN and its staff – who would park anywhere in New York streets and ignore traffic tickets. Includes speeding and running up debts.
But the point is, if you go into that embassy or consulate’s base (including gardens), you are on THEIR territory.
It would be different if it was Israel.
Well ET, you are missing my point. I’ll ask you a direct question – what do you advocate for yourself, if not a, b, or c?
Colin: Both embassies and consulates have extraterritorial status.