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Stormin’ Norman 2

By Steven | June 23, 2010

Okay, I’ve watched the footage. I think there’s plainly an assault (probably several). They’re plainly minor. The Chinese security detail were plainly desperate to spare their guy from the indignity of having to look at the Tibetan flag. They try to stand in front of Norman, and one pushes an umbrella in front of his flag.

Their behaviour is kind of pathetic.

Ducking the umbrella, Norman takes a few steps toward the security entrance and the knot of people around the Vice President. It’s not at all clear that he would have done so if Umbrella Fellow hadn’t done his trick.

National has described this as a “lunge”, and then as a “charge”. That’s absurd.

Norman then has the flag ripped out of his hands, and has to scramble to recover it. He gets it back, then follows the group inside the entrance, calling for “Freedom for the people of Tibet”.

Some may call this undignified behaviour for an MP. Not me. Norman is the one pointing up the really offensive behaviour in all of this, which is the Chinese regime’s treatment of Tibetans. Here’s an example dear to my own heart (from Amnesty International’s latest country report on China):

On 28 December, DhondupWangchen, an independent Tibetan film maker, was sentenced to six years imprisonment for the crime of “subverting state power” after a secret trial by the provincial court in Xining, Qinghai province. The lawyer originally hired by his family was barred from representing him, and it is unclear if he subsequently had any legal representation or was able to defend himself during the trial.

Some things are worth ruffling some feathers about.

Topics: Protest speech | No Comments »

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