Internet Marketing and Social Media Consultants

Over the weekend, YouTube has been blocked in China due to the videos circulating of a clash between Tibetan protesters and Chinese. In addition to these videos, others promoting Tibetan sovereignty have been posted on the site.

With the Olympics approaching, China is in no mood for the Tibet situation to be making headlines as the world’s press begins to apply greater scrutiny on the country. This latest round of protests in Tibet comes three days after President Bush removed China from a human rights blacklist for reasons not immediately obvious.

Surprisingly perhaps for some, Chinese bloggers expressed their vitriol in the direction of the Tibetans that were protesting, and the Dalai Lama. The Chinese blogosphere is adamantly opposed to Tibetan independence and blames the Dalai Lama for the violence associated with it.

Reports from Beijing say that while China has been attempting to loosen things up a little bit ahead of the Olympics, certain portions of CNN and BBC news reports are being blacked out by the Chinese when they make reference to the unrest in Tibet. The screen simply goes black and then returns when the report is over.

Thanks to Xeni Jardin at Boing Boing for the report.

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