There have been loud cries from overseas calling for the Chinese government to exercise "restraint" in handling the violence in Tibet.

But the voices, intentionally or otherwise, are almost silent over the violent acts that ravaged parts of Lhasa, capital of the Tibet autonomous region, on Friday.

Those acts, from setting fire to buildings; torching police cars as well as private vehicles; looting banks, schools and shops to stabbing innocent civilians, are ones that most governments around the world would take drastic actions to stop and condemn if they happened in their own countries.