Chinese expatriates and students in Britain staged a silence demonstration at a square opposite to the British Parliament building on Saturday, in protest against distorted reports by some Western media including BBC on the March 14 Tibet riots.

Thousands of Chinese students and expatriates stage a demonstration to support the Beijing Olympics and denounce BBC's biased and distorted reports about the March 14 Lhasa riots near Westminster in London, April 19, 2008. (chinadaily.com.cn)

More than 3,000 people joined the demonstration, the first ever staged by the Chinese community in Britain.

"Today we are here to oppose media distortion and media fabrication in the recent events. We are here in a quest for objectivity, fairness and justice," a demonstration coordinator read out a statement.

"As we heard, we saw, we say BBC on some of the recent events has misled the British public and the rest of the world by providing intensive untruthful reports and biased coverage."

"We are afraid that media distortion and media fabrication are going to build up the barrier and bring hatred between the Western world and the Chinese people. This attempt reminds us of the Cold War and the Iron Curtain."

Thousands of Chinese students and expatriates stage a demonstration to support the Beijing Olympics and denounce BBC's biased and distorted reports about the March 14 Lhasa riots near Westminster in London, April 19, 2008. (chinadaily.com.cn)