Developments in Tibet: Deja vu, all over again

Protests turned violent on Friday in Lhasa, the capital of Tibet. The protests began on Monday with demonstrations by Buddhist monks marking the anniversary of the failed 1959 uprising, and have become the largest since the 1980s. (Those protests were, surprise surprise, violently ended by the Chinese government.) The protests challenge Beijing’s efforts to present an “image of harmony and stability” before the summer Olympics. Though information has been sparse and difficult to verify due to tight control by the Chinese government, witnesses say that Chinese police surrounded at least two Buddhist monasteries in an attempt to quell the uprising.

Strikingly similar to the uprising in Burma last year.