These people are very active in the Tibetan communities in the United States and Canada. They are protesting in Beijing because their Tibetan friends cannot; most Tibetans living in the United States or Canada will be denied visas based on their names alone and Tibetans living in China cannot protest without fear of being tortured or killed. I am sure that the protesters are concerned about human rights abuses in general, but they have a personal interest in this cause and want to do something about it.

A very good book regarding the Tibetan situation is "The Dragon in the Land of Snows" by Tsering Shakya. It gives a very even-handed account of Tibet's history, including the failures on both sides that have led to the current situation. Tibet was not the Garden of Eden that some people make it out to be, but does that justify the continued torture that is being inflicted on Tibetans by the Chinese government?

I had an idea like this once, but it involved a bunch of monkeys and some typewriters. It didn't work out.