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Local Tibetans will gather at Aotea Square for a candlelight vigil tonight to pray for those who died during Friday's protest in Lhasa against Chinese rule.
Reports have differed on the death toll _ exiled Tibetan representatives in India saying it was between 80 and 100, but China says only 13 "innocent civilians" were killed.
Community spokesman Thuten Kesang said the gathering aimed also to pressure the Government into condemning the actions of the Chinese, and call on New Zealand athletes to take a "moral conscience" call on the Beijing Olympics.
"Free trade agreements should not come at the price of human lives, and the Government's mild response is just not acceptable" said Mr Kesang, who is also the chairman of the Auckland Tibetan Association.
"It would be unfair to demand the athletes to boycott the Olympics, but we hope they can make their own moral judgment to not participate."
Taiwan's New Zealand-based press councillor Andy Tseng said the bloodshed in Tibet had also instilled fear among the Taiwanese community in New Zealand, some of whom were returning home to vote in Taiwan's March 22 presidential elections.
"Some are afraid that Taiwan could become a second Tibet," Mr Tseng said. "The way China handled what was a peaceful demonstration shows China has not improved its human rights since the Tiananmen Square massacre of 1989."
He said questions had to be asked whether "China deserved to be host of the Olympics".
Meanwhile, a group called Free Burma Campaign New Zealand will stage a protest this evening outside the Prime Minister's electorate office on Sandringham Rd, calling for the Government to pull back from its free trade agreement with China and a boycott of the Beijing Olympics.
But the New Zealand Chinese Association president, Kai Luey, said many in the local Chinese community would not support a call to boycott the Olympics, despite the events in Tibet.
"That would just be unfair to our athletes, who have made huge personal sacrifices to be able to represent New Zealand," he said.
The association is commissioning architect Ron Sang and local-born Chinese artist Guy Ngan to do a sculpture as a gift to the New Zealand Olympic team. The $40,000 sculpture is a dragon with a greenstone pearl on its tongue on a granite base.
