Click to play videoNew Delhi: Hollywood star Richard Gere has been a long-time supporter of the Tibetan cause and believes that the latest outbreak of violence is different than previous ones and has denied Chinese claims that the protests were orchestrated by the Dalai Lama.
"The best information I'm getting is this was not organised. There will be organised demonstrations around the Olympics. No question about that. But this was an outpouring of emotion, which was spontaneous. The fact is that it wasn't just among the monks and nuns. These are simple non-violent marches and expressions of freedom," Gere said.
"Well, that's clearly foolish and embarrassing for them (the Chinese). Tibetans been brutally repressed for 50 years, 55 years - close to six decades. When you regress the people, they will explode. All people will explode. They're incredibly loving and forgiving people. They've been uniform in keeping the movement non-violent," he said.
The Dalai Lama and governments around the world are calling on China to be restrained in their response to the protests after demonstrations in Tibet turned violent on Friday.
The United States of America, the European Union and Australia have called on China to exercise restraint, but Asian countries remain silent.
India has been disallowing protests in the country while Japan and South Korea have not yet reacted officially to the crackdown.
The Australian foreign ministry says 'peaceful expressions of dissent' must be allowed.
On Friday, US bureaucrats met senior Chinese officials to express concern over the crackdown.
The White House urged Beijing to respect Tibetan culture and have a dialogue with the Dalai Lama. European Union leaders echoed similar views.
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