Tibet Protest News
March 27, 2008 Leave a comment
by twit
Protests are happening throughout China but information is difficult to find.
This post collects news reports about recent protests in China by province.
Comments with updates and links are welcome and appreciated.
Map via the BBC. A detailed map of China and its provinces is available via Wikipedia.
(Updates continue at Tibet Protest News Update, including this link to the ICT map of Tibetan protests from March 10, 2008 through March 25, 2008)
Tibet
On March 10, 2008, an estimated 300 monks march to the center of Lhasa from Deprung monastery. On March 13, monks begin a hunger strike and other protests as Lhasa’s three main monasteries are locked down by Chinese authorities.
On March 14, violent protests occur in Lhasa. On March 15, there are reports of crowds of protesters being shot by police during the March 14 demonstrations.
On March 14 and March 15, 2008, demonstrations take place in Penpo, near Lhasa. An estimated 3,000 Tibetans then join demonstrations demanding the release of detained protesters. Most monks from the Penpo Ganden Choekor monastery are then detained by Chinese authorities.
On March 16, 2008, tear gas, electric batons and gunfire drive back Tibetan protesters in Lhasa. On March 17 and March 18, widespread arrests are reported in Lhasa, as well as hundreds of deaths since March 10, 2008.
By March 19, 2008, Lhasa is reported to be quiet, with a heavy Chinese military presence.
On March 27, 2008, thirty monks disrupt a carefully coordinated tour of Lhasa in view of several journalists. On March 28, there are reports from Lhasa of hundreds of prisoners being forced into trucks and onto a train.
On March 29, 2008, there are reports of several ongoing demonstrations in Lhasa, coinciding with the visit by foreign diplomats. On March 30, “panic” is reported in Lhasa near security checkpoints.
Sichuan
On March 15, 2008, monks and other people demonstrate in Ngaba county. On March 16, an estimated 7 23 30 protesters are killed and hundreds wounded by Chinese authorities, including monks from the Kirti monastery, during a protest involving thousands of people marching towards Ngaba county government headquarters. Additional protesters are reported shot by Chinese authorities on March 18, 2008.
On March 20, 2008, widespread arrests, detentions and a ‘massacre‘ are reported in Ngaba county. On March 22, monks protest in the Chabcha area of Amdo. By March 23, food shortages are reported in Ngaba county due to the restrictions imposed by Chinese authorities.
On March 24, 2008, police fire on crowds of protesters attempting to march to a government office. On March 25, there are violent protests and reports of Chinese authorities firing on crowds of protesters in Garze, including monks from the Trehor Draggo monastery.
On March 29, 2008, it is reported that over 500 monks have been taken away from the Kirti monastery in Ngaba. On March 30, mass arrests of monks are reported at the Amdo Ngaba Buddhist School of Dialectics, Amdo Ngaba Gomang monastery, Amdo Atob monastery and the Tatsang Lama Kirti monastery.
Qinghai
Protests in Qinghai began in late February, 2008 with hundreds of people, including monks from the Rebkong monastery, demonstrating until tear gas was used by police to disperse the crowd.
On March 16, 2008, hundreds of monks march towards the government headquarters of Rebkong county and are joined by additional protesters until paramilitary troops detain the monks and use tear gas on the crowd. On March 17, China is reported to engage in ‘suppression on the run’ to contain the spreading protests and demonstrations. On March 18, monks at Rebkong monastery continue to protest by burning incense in violation of orders from Chinese police.
Thousands are reported as continuing to participate in protests as of March 20, 2008.
Gansu
On March 14 and March 15, thousands of Tibetans demonstrate in Xiahe near the Labrang monastery. On March 16, protests are reported in Machu county, including the destruction of the doors to the county government offices.
Days of unrest are reported in Hezuo, Gannan and Maqu county, including student protests and clashes with police.
On March 18, hundreds of monks and Tibetans protested in Sangchu county. On March 19, hundreds of Tibetans, including some riding horses, are reported as attacking a government building in an unnamed town.
Detentions and arrests of an estimated 20 Tibetans are reported in Sangchu county on March 21, 2008.
Beijing
A small student-led vigil is reported on March 19, 2008 to be the first reported protest in the Chinese capital.
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Sources, listed by province:
Tibet
Associated Press Mar 31, 2008:
China says 18 civilians, most of them Han Chinese, died in the riots, but Tibet’s government-in-exile has said 140 Tibetans were killed during the protests
A total of 414 suspects have been taken into custody in connection with the March 14 riots, and another 298 people have turned themselves in, the report said, citing Jiang Zaiping, vice chief of the Public Security Bureau in the Tibetan capital of Lhasa.
Reuters Mar 30, 2008:
Further unrest in Tibet’s capital appeared to have been sparked by attempts by police to carry out security checks, indicating the tension and volatility remaining in Lhasa weeks after a deadly anti-government riot.
It was unclear exactly what occurred in Lhasa on Saturday but a mobile text message to residents from police said security checks carried out earlier in the day had “frightened citizens” and caused panic in the city centre.
Washington-based International Campaign for Tibet and Radio Free Asia quoted witnesses as describing people “running in all directions and shouting”.
Associated Press Mar 30, 2008:
Before China’s takeover of Tibet in 1959, warrior monks sometimes wielded more power – and weaponry – than the army. Lhasa’s Sera monastery, a hotbed of the recent protests, was particularly noted for its elite fighters, the “Dob-Dobs,” who in 1947 took part in a rebellion that took 300 lives.
“Use peaceful means where they are appropriate, but where they are not appropriate, do not hesitate to resort to more forceful means,” said the previous, now deceased Dalai Lama when Tibet fought the Chinese in the 1930s.
Radio Free Asia Mar 29, 2008:
Witnesses told RFA’s Tibetan service that several hundred Tibetans rallied around 2 p.m. on March 29, beginning in the area near Center Beijing Road. … “People were running in every direction,” one witness said. “It was a huge protest and people were shouting.” Another source who also declined to be identified reported seeing “fistfights” but she didn’t give details. The protest continued for several hours but no further details were immediately available.
The March 29 protest coincided with a day-long visit to Lhasa by foreign diplomats, who came at the invitation of the Chinese authorities.
Associated Press Mar 29, 2008:
New protests broke out Saturday at two monasteries in the Tibetan capital Lhasa… One protest was at Lhasa’s Ramoche monastery, where the March 14 demonstrations that led the crackdown began… People also protested at the Jokhang Temple, a major Buddhist site in Lhasa…
President Bush and Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd said Friday they want Chinese leaders to meet with the Dalai Lama to defuse tensions.
“It is absolutely clear that there are human rights abuses in Tibet,” Rudd told reporters after meeting Bush in Washington.
Associated Press Mar 29, 2008:
Tibetan activists say new protests have broken out in the Tibetan capital of Lhasa.
Kate Saunders of the International Campaign for Tibet says a protest at the Rampoche monastery Saturday grew to involve many people. Saunders said people in the city had reported fighting there.
ICT Mar 28 2008:
sources have reported seeing large numbers of Tibetans being herded into trucks, and in one instance, forced to board a train from Lhasa station and removed from the city. A Tibetan source, who is in exile but in close contact with Tibetans inside, reported hearing from an eyewitness that a group of several hundred Tibetans, escorted by armed security personnel, had boarded a train at Lhasa’s new railway station. The source told ICT, “The eyewitness reported seeing large numbers of monks in the group, and said that many were not wearing shoes. The reports of the removal of prisoners from Lhasa are chilling for many older Tibetans, who remember the purges after 1959 and beyond when so many Tibetans were taken to labor camps and prisons in Gansu and Qinghai.
… China’s state media has reported that 280 people ‘turned themselves in’ to police in Tibet’s capital, while another 381 surrendered in southwest Sichuan province. Beijing also made the first known official acknowledgment of arrest for peaceful protest two days ago with a reference in Tibet Daily on March 25 of the detention of Tibetans in Lhasa for chanting ‘reactionary’ slogans and displaying the Tibetan flag. In contrast, official statements in the past few days on detentions have described the offences as linked to burning, looting or acts of violence.
Wall Street Journal Mar 28, 2008:
The government has acknowledged detaining hundreds in Lhasa and effectively putting entire monasteries under house arrest. Police have also acknowledged shooting protesters in the spreading unrest. Casualty figures remain in dispute and the authorities have flooded ethnic Tibetan areas with armed police to quell further demonstrations.
MSNBC Mar 27, 2008:
The outburst by a group of 30 monks in red robes came as the journalists, including an Associated Press reporter, were being shown around the Jokhang Temple
BBC Mar 27, 2008:
two of the monasteries whose monks were behind the protests in the weeks which led up to the riots – then there is no access to those areas, those monasteries where monks are believed to be detained.
Associated Press Mar 26, 2008:
– March 10: As many as 300 monks march to the center of the Tibetan capital of Lhasa from Drepung monastery to commemorate the anniversary of a Tibetan uprising against Chinese rule in 1959. Nine monks also shout slogans near a main temple in central Lhasa.
– March 13: Monks start a hunger strike and there are two attempted suicides as Lhasa’s three biggest monasteries are sealed off by thousands of soldiers and police.
– March 14: Protests led by Buddhist monks turn violent, with shops and vehicles torched and gunshots echoing through the streets of Lhasa.
Radio Free Asia Mar 23, 2008:
Following the demonstration in the Penpo area[near Lhasa] on March 14 and 15, five monks were detained.
Later, over 3,000 Tibetans–monks from the Penpo Ganden Choekor monastery and other monasteries and nunneries as well as laypeople–joined the demonstrations and demanded the release of those who had been detained earlier.
A Tibetan youth was killed during the demonstration and crackdown, though the cause of his death is still unclear.
Now, Penpo Ganden Choekor monastery is surrounded by Chinese security forces. There were 90 monks there, and except for three elderly monks, all were detained and taken away. Altogether, 160 Tibetans are confirmed to have been detained. The total number could be much higher.
In fact, my source told me that one person from each family is being taken away. They were threatened with ‘serious consequences’ if they call or talk with outside contacts, so they are afraid to give detailed information.
BBC Mar 20, 2008:
officials said 24 people had been arrested after demos in the Tibetan city of Lhasa, and 170 protesters had surrendered to authorities.
Radio Free Asia Mar 20, 2008:
A Tibetan resident of Lhasa said police were still keeping strict controls on movements in and around the city. “We must show identity cards when going in and out of the city,” he told RFA’s Mandarin service.
… One woman said: “People are getting arrested for saying even one sentence that they ought not to say. I am scared. I cannot tell you anything.”
… A Tibetan official in exile said the authorities were detaining all Tibetans without identification in Lhasa, regardless of whether they participated in last week’s anti-Chinese protests and rioting.
“A lot of Tibetans are nomadic herdsmen who do not carry ID. Prisons in Lhasa are filled to capacity,” the official said.
Telegraph Mar 19, 2008:
The Tibetan capital Lhasa has fallen silent after days of rioting that has left at least 16 people dead in the worst violence there for two decades.
MSNBC Mar 19, 2008:
Police also quelled a small protest Tuesday in Lhasa
Times Online Mar 18, 2008:
Close to 1,000 Tibetans have been detained in two days of sweeps across Lhasa, the capital, by paramilitary police hunting down those who took part in last week’s deadly anti-Chinese riots.
Sources in the city said that 600 people had been detained on Saturday and another 300 had been picked up on Sunday. They said it was not clear where those rounded up were being detained because the main Drapchi prison in Lhasa is believed to be virtually full.
Radio Free Asia Mar 18, 2008:
One Tibetan witness described house to house raids in Lhasa on Tuesday, saying police and paramilitary forces are “are raiding Tibetan houses in the Lhasa area, looking for residence permits and taking anyone people who don’t have them.”
Tibetan sources in India said police were carrying out house-to-house raids and taking away Tibetans without valid residency permits for the city. Families were being given no information about the whereabouts of loved ones, and anyone who stepped outside their home risked immediate detention.
Telegraph Mar 18, 2008:
But while Lhasa was quieter than it had been the previous day, when thousands of demonstrators took to the streets, PLA soldiers armed with automatic weaopons moved into the Barkhor district during the afternoon and early evening, and gunfire could be heard. Earlier in the day, groups of protestors darted in and out of the warren of alleyways that run through the Barkhor district, setting fire to shops, businesses and cars owned by Han Chinese, the ethnic majority group in China, and burning Chinese flags.
Goods from the shops were burnt on the streets and protestors hurled the tear gas canisters being fired at them onto the bonfires, resulting in a series of explosions that echoed throughout the surrounding streets. By lunchtime, virtually every Han Chinese-owned shop or business in the area had been burnt down. “Pretty much everything that can be destroyed has been destroyed,” an eyewitness told The Sunday Telegraph.
… “We heard from our Tibetan guide that there are more than 20 dead people,” said Gepke Pals, from Holland. Her companion, France Plooij, said: “Last night [Friday], early in the evening, there were more than 100 trucks of soldiers entering the city. And this morning I saw another 40 trucks of soldiers and 36 tanks – I counted them. They came down on the Tibetan people really hard.”
Tourists were warned that if they ventured beyond their hotels they risked being shot.
Radio Free Asia Mar 17, 2008:
KATHMANDU—Authorities in the Tibetan capital began arresting hundreds of people in the wake of anti-Chinese protests over the weekend as a deadline passed for those involved in the marches, demonstrations, and rioting to “surrender” to police.
One witness in Lhasa said armed police were rounding up “hundreds” of suspects, while reliable sources in Lhasa said municipal prosecutors had issued 150 arrest warrants by the deadline Monday for “escapees” still at large.
Another Lhasa resident said Tibetans were now being turned away from hospitals in the city.
… A protester at the Central Minorities University in Beijing said students there had staged a protest in silent defiance of the government.
Associated Press Mar 17, 2008:
Tibet’s governor Champa Phuntsok said Monday that 16 people died and dozens were wounded in the violence, which broke out in Lhasa on Friday. He described 13 as “innocent civilians,” and said another three people died jumping out of buildings to avoid arrest. China’s state media said earlier that 10 civilians were killed.
… Thubten Samphel, a spokesman for the Dalai Lama’s government, said multiple people inside Tibet had counted at least 80 corpses since the violence broke out Friday. He did not know how many of the bodies were protesters. The figures could not be independently verified because China restricts foreign media access to Tibet. In Lhasa, hundreds of armed police and soldiers patrolled the streets on Sunday. Hong Kong Cable TV reported some 200 military vehicles, carrying 40 to 60 armed soldiers each, drove into the city center.
Footage showed the streets were mostly empty other than the security forces. Messages on loudspeakers warned residents to “discern between enemies and friends, maintain order” and “have a clear stand to oppose violence, maintain stability.”
James Miles, a BBC correspondent in Lhasa, said troops carrying automatic rifles were “letting off the occasional shot.” He said people were scared to come out of their homes for fear of being hit by a bullet.
Westerners who were told to leave Lhasa and arrived by plane in the city of Chengdu said they heard gunshots and explosions throughout Saturday and overnight.
“The worst day was yesterday. It was completely chaotic. There was running and screaming in the street,” said Gerald Scott Flint, director of the medical aid group Volunteer Medics Worldwide, who had been in Lhasa four days. Flint said he could see fires burning six or more blocks away.
Associated Press Mar 17, 2008:
Hundreds of Tibetans have died in unrest in Lhasa and elsewhere in the Chinese-ruled Himalayan region, the India-based Tibetan parliament-in-exile said in a statement Monday.
Telegraph Mar 16, 2008:
Tibetan Buddhist monks, staging the most serious protests against Chinese rule in years, were driven back with tear gas and electric batons, according to reports from Lhasa, the capital.
… Jampa Phuntsok, the ethnic Tibetan governor of Tibet, who is in Beijing for the annual meeting of the National People’s Congress, said the incident was “really nothing”
BBC Mar 15, 2008:
Phayul/NY Times Mar 15, 2008:
authorities said they had regained control of the Tibetan capital, Lhasa, a day after a rampaging mob ransacked shops and set fire to cars and storefronts in a deadly riot.
Conflicting reports emerged about the violence in Lhasa on Friday. The Chinese authorities denied that they had fired on protesters there, but Tibetan leaders in India told news agencies on Saturday that they had confirmed that 30 Tibetans had died and that they had unconfirmed reports that put the number at more than 100.
Radio Free Asia Mar 15, 2008:
“Today when the Tibetans were demonstrating, many Tibetans were killed. We Tibetans had no weapons to fight back. When the Tibetans were gathered in front of the Jokhang [temple], the Chinese fired at us. I personally saw more than 100 Tibetans killed when the Chinese fired at the Tibetan crowd,” one man in Lhasa told RFA’s Tibetan service late Friday.
Sichuan
Reuters Mar 30, 2008:
In Sichuan province’s Aba county, where police opened fire on protesters a week ago, 26 suspects were detained for their involvement, the state-run Xinhua news agency reported.
Police seized guns, bullets, explosives and knives in Aba’s Kirti monastery, as well as Tibetan flags and banners advocating independence for Tibet, the report said.
The Tibet Centre for Human Rights and Democracy, based in India, gave a different account, saying more than 100 monks from the Kirti monastery were detained and that police raided rooms.
Radio Free Asia Mar 26, 2008:
On March 25, at the Trehor Draggo monastery [Ganzi/Kardze Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture], the monks were planning to rise up and protest, but could not at first find anyone to lead them. Then, during a special prayer session organized for those who had been killed in the Chinese crackdown in the Kardze area, they decided to go ahead with the protest.
… the Tibetan police allowed the monks to move toward the county center. There, the monks shouted slogans calling for the long life of the Dalai Lama and demanding that he be allowed to return to Tibet, demanding the release of the Panchen Lama, and demanding that Tibetans be allowed religious freedom and human rights. Other Tibetans joined them at the county center. Armed police then arrived and tried to remove the monks, but the monks stayed in groups holding on to each other and did not allow anyone to be taken away.
The monks then marched back to the monastery and continued their protests. At one point, shots were fired, but the monks dodged the bullets by lying flat on the ground and declared that they would not respond with violence, though some of them damaged Chinese government vehicles on the way back. The monastery has now been surrounded by the People’s Armed Police, and the monks have all been ordered to leave.
Associated Press Mar 26, 2008:
– March 25: The official Xinhua News Agency says protesters in Garze, a prefecture in Sichuan province, attacked police with knives and stones, killing one policeman. The Tibetan Center for Human Rights and Democracy said one monk died and another was critically wounded after security agents fired live rounds into the gathering.
Times Online Mar 25, 2008:
Paramilitary police opened fire on hundreds of monks, nuns and Tibetans who tried to march on a local government office in western China yesterday
MSNBC Mar 24, 2008:
BEIJING – One policeman was killed and several others injured in riots Monday in western Sichuan province, China’s state media reported.
… Xinhua also said that 381 people involved in protests in another Sichuan county, Aba, had surrendered to police, according to local authorities.
Phayul Mar 23, 2008:
The monks of Kirti monastery in Aba, Sichuan, western China, are said to have found a 16-year-old schoolgirl among up to 23 Tibetan protesters killed when Chinese police opened fire last Sunday.
Radio Free Asia Mar 23, 2008:
Some local Tibetans and monks tried to bring food to the monks being held inside Kirti monastery, but security forces stopped them. The monks inside Kirti monastery are facing a severe shortage of food, and the main roads leading to the Ngaba county centers are blocked by the People’s Armed Police. So both monks and laypeople are facing shortages of food, and if they become desperate they may rise again.
Radio Free Asia Mar 23, 2008:
In the Chabcha area of Amdo [Hainan/Tsolho Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture], there is a small monastery called Atso.
On March 22, at around 11:15 a.m., the monks there began to protest. They put up Tibetan flags and gathered on the hilltop just behind the monastery, where they burned incense. They raised slogans like ‘Freedom for Tibet!,’ ‘Long Live the Dalai Lama!,’ and ‘Release the Panchen Lama!’
After these protests in the surroundings of the monastery, the monks all walked to the township center, not very far away. There, they pulled down the Chinese flag at the local government school and burned it. Then they returned to the monastery and continued their protest. Three trucks full of police then arrived, and the head of the police threatened the monks with ‘serious consequences’ if they continued their protest. He told them that ‘with just one phone call, we can finish you.’
The monks shouted back that they can no longer bear Chinese repression and that they are ready to sacrifice their lives. The head lama and young Rinpoche of the monastery then calmed the monks down.
Radio Free Asia Mar 20, 2008:
Residents of Ngaba (in Chinese, Aba) autonomous prefecture in Sichuan said two monks were shot dead by Chinese armed police after they defied a police cordon set up around the Kirti monastery. Local residents also said a “massacre” had occurred during the clashes around Kirti.
BBC Mar 20, 2008:
Xinhua news agency reported huge damage to government buildings and shops after riots in Sichuan province on Sunday.
Radio Free Asia Mar 20, 2008:
In Ngaba, Chinese police were conducting door-to-door searches of all Tibetan homes in the area, sources in the region said.
“Pictures of the Dalai Lama or any articles, objects, or documents that are politically sensitive in nature are being confiscated,” one source said.
Police were also arresting any Tibetan found with such items in their home, he added. “Tibetans are also being told that they will be detained until the end of the Olympics, and once the Olympics are over, court proceedings will then begin,” he added.
MSNBC Mar 19, 2008:
In the Aba area of Sichuan province, people were ordered to stay inside after Tibetans poured into the streets Tuesday, a hotel receptionist said. She said she heard gunshots during the demonstration.
NBC Mar 19, 2008:
The first report on Sunday cited anonymous residents of Aba town who said eight bodies had been left outside a major monastery. The bodies, all of them Tibetan, included a 15-year-old student who had been protesting against the Chinese. By Sunday night the figure had grown to 10. A few hours later, reports said the number of dead had edged up to 16 and continued to rise.
… we watched line after line of military vehicles thunder past us. We wondered whether they were the same convoys we had passed in the pre-dawn hours at the beginning of our journey.
… By nightfall, when we were back on the road towards Chengdu, several dozen military convoys rolled past us, carrying even more soldiers, equipment, and supplies.
For a moment, as the headlights lumbered past our jeep, I thought it looked like China was going to war. And no one was going to be able to cover it.
Radio Free Asia Mar 18, 2008:
KATHMANDU—Tibetans in China’s southwestern Sichuan province say at least two Tibetans were shot dead Tuesday when police fired on crowds of anti-Chinese protesters
Associated Press Mar 17, 2008:
Tensions also boiled over outside the county seat of Aba in Sichuan province when armed police tried to stop Tibetan monks from protesting, according to a witness who refused to give his name.
The witness said a policeman had been killed and three or four police vans had been set on fire. Eight bodies were brought to a nearby monastery while others reported that up to 30 protesters had been shot, according to activist groups the Tibetan Center for Human Rights and Democracy and the London-based Free Tibet Campaign. The claims could not be confirmed.
Phayul Mar 16, 2008:
According to the latest confirmed information received by the Tibetan Centre for Human Rights and Democracy (TCHRD), at least seven people were known to have been shot dead including monks of Ngaba Kirti Monastery by the People’s Armed Police (PAP) during the peaceful demonstration by thousands of people in Ngaba County (Ch: Aba) this afternoon. Hundreds of people are also known to have been injured in the incident following PAP crackdown on the protestors. The demonstration is still going on when the Centre received the information from the venue of demonstration.
The demonstration started around 11.30 AM (Beijing Time), when thousands of Tibetan monks of Amdo Ngaba Kirti Monastery, in Ngaba County (Ch: Aba), Ngaba “Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture” (“TAP”) Sichuan Province, gathered for a prayer session this morning. Shortly after the end of morning prayer session, thousands of monks erupted into spontaneous protest by raising slogans calling for “Tibet independence”, “return of the Dalai Lama” and “freedom for Tibet”. The demonstration was later joined by common citizens of Ngaba County total numbering thousands of people who were heading towards Ngaba County government headquarters.
Phayul Mar 15 2008:
In fresh protests reported in Ngaba in Amdo, 300 monks from Amdo Tag Tsang Lhamo Kyi monastery and some 100 lay people staged demonstration in the local market earlier today, sources told phayul.
… On 10th march they couldn’t stage any protest because four Chinese military truck full of armed forces were patrolling the monastery. Today the leaders of the county of Zoegey, Ngaba and religious leaders gathered at the monastery for a meeting. While the meeting was going on the monks started protesting again as the Chinese officials tried to stop them.
Later today, two military trucks full of army surrounded the monastery and kept the monks under house arrest. 10 monks have been reportedly arrested after the protest.
Qinghai
Radio Free Asia Mar 20, 2008:
KATHMANDU—Thousands of Tibetans in western China’s Qinghai province are still defying a Chinese crackdown in the area, staging protests calling for peaceful dialogue with their exiled spiritual leader the Dalai Lama.
“In the Tsekhog [Zeku] area in Huangnan prefecture, the monks are continuing their peaceful protests as of March 20,” a protester told an Amdo dialect reporter from RFA’s Tibetan service.
“Roughly 2,000 Tibetans, both monks and laypersons, are involved in the protests. The protesters are calling for the Chinese leadership to open a peaceful dialogue with the Dalai Lama and resolve the Tibetan issue peacefully,” the protester said, over the sound of slogans being chanted.
BBC Mar 19, 2008:
Dr Martin Mills, a Tibet expert from Aberdeen University, says the wider region played a key role in the major Tibetan uprising of the late 1950s… “… the most ferocious fighting was occurring in Qinghai,” he said.
Dr Fischer, who visited to the region last September, said local officials there had expressed serious concern about protest movements then.
He said the area was “like a powder keg waiting to go off”.
Telegraph Mar 18, 2008:
Defiant Tibetan monks burned incense today despite orders from Chinese police. Smoke appeared above the golden roofs of Rebkong monastery in a sign that they are determined to stand up for their beliefs.
In fact, the conflict between Tibetans and the authorities began in Rebkong even before the protests in Lhasa
… The subsequent demonstration, late last month, brought together the 470 monks of the monastery and more than 1,000 ordinary local people, before police fired tear gas to break up the crowd.
Associated Press Mar 17, 2008:
Qinghai province, riot police sent to prevent protests set off tensions when they took up positions outside a monastery in Tongren. Dozens of monks, defying a directive not to gather in groups, marched to a hill where they set off fireworks and burned incense in what one monk said was a protest, according to an Associated Press reporter at the scene.
… the widening Tibetan protests are forcing Beijing to pursue suppression while on the run, from town to town and province to province across its vast western region. Sunday’s lockdown in Tongren required police imported from other towns, the locals said.
Phayul Mar 16, 2008:
around 300 monks of Rong Gonchen Monastery conducted Sangsol Prayer (Incense burning ritual) on the hill just behind the monastery during the early hours of the day. It was known that the monks performed Long Life Prayer Ceremony for the Dalai Lama. Shortly after the end of the prayer ceremony, the monks started peace march towards the government headquarters of Rebkong County which is located in the downtown market area which was later joined by lay people of the County.
However, in minutes’ time they were confronted and blocked by the security personnel from continuing the demonstration. Source says that the monks are currently stranded at the monastery courtyard surrounded by a heavy presence of paramilitary troops. In a course of time, more and more ordinary people flock in to join the monks protesting inside the monastery courtyard. The situation is said to be extremely tense. The source also says that the security personnel have already started firing tear gas on the crowds to disperse them. At the moment, the arrests, and deaths of the protestors could not be ascertained.
Gansu
Reuters Mar 30, 2008:
In Gansu province, whose southern, heavily Tibetan areas saw widespread unrest, notices were pasted on walls urging protesters to give themselves up.
The paramilitary People’s Armed Police manned frequent checkpoints in the region, armed with riot shields and clubs and bayonets on their rifles, a sign of ongoing tension in the area.
Radio Free Asia Mar 23, 2008:
On March 18, over 1,000 monks and local Tibetans protested in the area of Sangchu county [Gannan/Kanlho Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture].
They then went to the local government school, pulled down the Chinese flag, and replaced it with the Tibetan flag. No security forces arrived on that day.
However, on March 21 at around 7:00 p.m., armed Chinese security forces arrived at the monastery and detained four monks and three laypeople.
Another four monks were detained at another monastery. Over 20 Tibetans were finally detained.
BBC Mar 21, 2008:
Hezuo is in Gansu’s Gannan Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture. There has been major unrest in the area since last Saturday.
… students from two schools began the demonstrations in Hezuo because they were “dissatisfied with the suppression in Lhasa”, said the Tibetan monk.
“We heard that those students are really tough, they smashed cars and shops.”
Radio Free Asia Mar 19, 2008:
This TV image shows Tibetans, some on horseback, moving into an unnamed village in Gansu on March 19, 2008.
More than 1,000 Tibetans, some on horseback, charged into a remote Chinese town, attacking a government building and hoisting their national flag, Canadian TV reported.
BBC Mar 19 2008:
Sangay Tashi, of the Free Tibet Campaign, said there had been protests across Maqu County, south of Hezuo, but also in Gannan, over recent days.
… the situation in Hezuo suggests the protests are continuing.
MSNBC March 19, 2008:
Hundreds of protesters, some on horseback and others on foot, stormed a government compound in the town of Hezuo in Gansu province Tuesday crying “Free Tibet.” Whirling lassos and shaking fists, they burned the Chinese flag and hoisted the emblem of an independent Tibet.
The dramatic footage was captured by a Canadian television crew and aired by the British Broadcasting Corp.
The protesters were driven off by police wielding clubs and quickly dispersed after paramilitary reinforcements arrived. There were no reports of serious injures or arrests.
Telegraph Mar 19, 2008:
In Gansu’s Maqu county, which borders Sichuan province, thousands of monks and ordinary Tibetans clashed with police in various locations.
Times Online Mar 18, 2008:
In northwestern Gansu, which borders Tibet, large numbers of ethnic Tibetans took to the streets late on Sunday, burning shops and business belonging to ethnic Han Chinese and Hui Muslims and burning 16 cars, said one witness.
Telegraph Mar 18, 2008:
Police fired tear gas to break up a group of several hundred monks from the Labrang Monastery in Gansu Province, who marched into the nearby town of Xiahe along with hundreds of ordinary Tibetans on Saturday morning.
According to local residents, the crowd attacked government buildings in Xiahe, including the local police station, before being dispersed. The London-based Free Tibet campaign said 20 people were arrested. The town was subsequently sealed off by armed police. Foreign journalists who attempted to visit Xiahe last night were turned back at roadblocks.
Phayul Mar 16, 2008:
Meanwhile in another incident, at around 6 PM (Beijing Time), about 1500 local Tibetans from Machu County (Ch: Maqu xian), Kanlho “Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture”(“TAP”), Gansu Province staged a peaceful demonstration in the main city of the County. Protestors raised slogans calling for the “Independence for Tibet”, “Long Live the Dalai Lama” and other demands. The sources also confirmed that the agitated protestors had burnt down one police vehicle during the demonstration. Additional large-scale contingents of PAP and PSB were brought in to crackdown upon the protestors.
Around 250 Tibetans of Nyulra Township, Machu County (Ch: Maqu xian), Kanlho “Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture”(“TAP”), Gansu Province destroyed the doors of County government offices during the protest. The protestors also took off the Chinese national flag and hoisted the banned Tibetan flag in place. The protestors later shouted pro-independence slogans. The situation is known to be extremely tense at the moment with the large-scale mobilization of truckloads of paramilitary troops had already began in the area.
Phayul/NY Times Mar 15, 2008:
Demonstrations erupted for the second consecutive day in the city of Xiahe in Gansu Province, where an estimated 4,000 Tibetans gathered near the Labrang Monastery. Local monks had held a smaller protest on Friday, but the confrontation escalated Saturday afternoon, according to witnesses and Tibetans in India who spoke with protesters by telephone.
Beijing
Telegraph Mar 19, 2008:
A small group of students staged a candle-lit vigil at a university for ethnic minorities in Beijing, bringing the demonstrations to the capital for the first time.
Radio Free Asia Mar 17, 2008:
“There are about 200 students in the Tibetan studies department of the Central Minorities University in Beijing—about 40 of them staged a silent protest to mourn the people killed or injured in other parts of Tibet,” the student said. “The police came in, and they are being held now in their classrooms.”
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