[Tibetnyt] Protests sweep through
NB:
International Campaign for
Indhold:
1. Protests spread throughout
2. Dalai Lama fears reprisals from Chinese
ultimatum to Tibetans to surrender
3.
4. Eyewitness reports from
1. Protests spread throughout
Statement of Dalai Lama's Special Envoy on events in
ICT report, March 16, 2008
An unprecedented wave of protests swept monasteries and towns in eastern
More than a thousand monks were joined by laypeople in a major protest
at Kirti monastery and town in Ngaba
(Chinese: Aba) Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture,
Sichuan, this morning, which led to at least eight, possibly many more, people
being killed, according to several sources. Three were named as Norbu, a 15-year old high school student, 30-year old Tsering, and Lobsang Tashi, 35. According to one reliable report, eight bodies
had been on display outside the police station in Ngaba,
in an act that appeared to intend the local populace from further acts of
protest.
According to one eyewitness report, the paramilitary armed police had
been carrying out drills in the town in a display of force which appears to
have angered Tibetans. After a morning prayer
ceremony, monks reportedly joined laypeople in a spontaneous protest, shouting
slogans of Tibetan freedom and in support of the Dalai Lama before armed police
fired into the crowd. An eyewitness report from the area said that the local
government run hospital was refusing to treat the wounded.
A crackdown may now be beginning in the county town of Machu (Chinese: Maqu), Gansu province, after an estimated 1500 Tibetans gathered
this morning, calling for the Dalai Lama to return to Tibet and shouting
pro-independence slogans. Some were carrying Tibetan flags and images of the
Dalai Lama. Around 11 truckloads of armed police were seen approaching the
protestors by one eyewitness, according to a new report received by ICT.
Information of new protests in the region has emerged today so quickly
that full confirmation of all details is not possible. Sources reported that
despite high levels of fear and intimidation, and the shock of witnessing
people being killed in front of them, Tibetans still had the courage to report on
what they had seen. Unlike in Lhasa, where there has
been an ethnic element to protests, the demands of demonstrators in monasteries
and towns of eastern Tibet appeared to be entirely political, focusing on
Tibetan freedom and independence, the return of the Dalai Lama to Tibet, and
concerns about the Panchen Lama, Gendun
Choekyi Nyima, who has been
in Chinese custody since
The atmosphere at Labrang (Chinese: Xiahe) monastery in Gansu
province is tense today after protests broke out with monks and laypeople
calling for independence while marching with the Tibetan flag, according to
eyewitness reports by Western observers and Tibetan sources. More than 30 troop
carriers of the paramilitary People's Armed Police arrived in Labrang late on Friday (March 14) - the day the
In the town of
Emerging reports also indicate a major demonstration by monks from Kardze (Chinese: Ganzi) monastery
today. Details could not be confirmed, but the monastery was already under
tight control with monks subject to stringent patriotic education sessions, and
consequences were likely to be severe.
Radio Free Asia reported a small demonstration of 12 monks in Rebgong, Malho prefecture,
A small demonstration on Friday in Shigatse
(Chinese: Xigaze), the second city in the Tibet
Autonomous Region, was broken up quickly by police, and there were reports of a
protest too in
Mary Beth Markey, Vice President of the International Campaign for
Crackdown underway in
Gunfire was still heard in
The Chinese government has issued an ultimatum to the Tibetans who have
been demonstrating in
Lodi Gyaltsen Gyari,
Special Envoy to His Holiness the Dalai Lama, said in a statement today:
"We are watching unfolding events in
'
This report can be read online at http://savetibet.org/news/newsitem.php?id=1221.
Press contact:
Kate Saunders
Communications Director, ICT
Tel: +44 7947 138612
email: press@savetibet.org
International Campaign for
-------------------------------------------------
2. Dalai Lama fears reprisals from Chinese
ultimatum to Tibetans to surrender
Eyewitness accounts from
ICT report, March 17, 2008
The Dalai Lama has said that he feared about the reprisals that will
follow from the Chinese
government's ultimatum to the Tibetans who
have been demonstrating in
Addressing members of the media gathered in Dharamsala yesterday, the
Dalai Lama said such ultimatums are not the way to win the
hearts and minds of the
Tibetan people, according to Mr. Chhime
Chhoekyapa of the Office of H.H. the Dalai Lama. The Dalai Lama told
the media that he had
appealed to international leaders, including
Chinese leaders, as well as his friends, to intervene so that the
situation does not deteriorate.
In an interview with the BBC yesterday, the Dalai Lama said that the
situation held resonances for him of the March 10 uprising: ?The
Chinese side is determined, the Tibetan side is determined, and the result is:
killing,? he said today in
The Chinese government?s
ultimatum for protestors, published below in full, to hand themselves in, is
causing fear and tension in
A translation into English by ICT of the document follows below. The
order threatens those Tibetans ?who harbor or hide
criminal elements? with punishment, while it
encourages people to inform on their neighbors and friends who protested by
suggesting they will be given awards if they do.
3.
Notice
No. 1
March 15, 2008, 07:23
Since March 10
continued to cause trouble, doing their utmost to cause social chaos. This
has been a meticulously
planned attempt by the Dalai clique to separate
harmony and normal productive lives of all nationalities in
smashing, looting, burning and killing, setting light to schools, hospitals,
children's activity centers, stores and people's dwellings, and violently
attacking Party and government offices and enterprise work units, setting
light to cars, looting
property, killing innocent masses, and surrounding
and viciously beating
law-enforcement personnel. Their behavior constitutes
criminal activities under the Criminal Law of the People's Republic of
activities of organizing, planning and participating in beating, smashing,
looting, burning and killing, and to submit themselves, and to encourage the
broad masses to actively
report on and expose criminal elements, a special
notice follows:
1. Those who on their own volition submit themselves to police or
judicial
offices prior to midnight on March 17 shall be punished lightly or dealt
mitigated punishment; those who surrender themselves and report on other
criminal elements will be performing meritorious acts and may escape
punishment. Criminal elements who do not submit themselves in time shall be
punished severely according to law.
2. Those who harbor or hide criminal elements
shall be punished severely
according to law upon completion of investigations.
3. Those citizens who actively report and expose the criminal behavior
of
criminal elements shall receive personal protection, and granted
commendations and awards.
http://www.xz.xinhuanet.com/2008-03/16/content_12710252.htm
4. Eyewitness reports from
The following eyewitness reports, all received yesterday by ICT (March
16) give vivid accounts of the unfolding situation in Lhasa
from Friday onwards, when events dramatically escalated following four days of
peaceful protest led by monks from Drepung, Sera and Ganden. By Friday, the monasteries were under lockdown and
there was a tense and intimidating atmosphere in the city. ICT has disguised
the identity of these sources.
The first witness observes events from Friday from a room with views of
the end of the
"The whole thing was very surprising, no rumours,
no nothing [before it broke out]. I heard a commotion
outside and looked out to see about 15 very young police or army in the middle
of the street, sitting down in a group. They then got up and pulled riot gear
from the back of a military truck?geared
up and formed a human barricade across Ramoche. Four
more riot police or army formations like a phalanx charged down Ramoche. Almost immediately they were rushed by a massive
group of Tibetans. It was just 15 young
police with their riot shields face a group of 500-1000 Tibetans. The Tibetans were armed with iron bars and
rocks and chunks of concrete?I
don't know where they got all this stuff from.
They then charged at the police/army pelting them with objects. Some of their shields broke and some fell,
obviously injured. They ran down Ramoche with the crowd chasing them. Some Tibetan friends told me that another mob
of Tibetans was coming down from the other end of the road so it is sickening
to think what happen to those young riot police. The noise was so intense I have never seen or
heard anything like it. I was so amazed
that all sorts of Tibetans were taking part, kids, women, men?..it was a total riot mentality. I am also very surprised that they did not
take out the surviellence camera on the corner of the
street?.everyone knows it is
there they were being recorded. They
didn't seem to care at all.
"I then walked down Mentsikung Lu towards
the Jokhang and hid inside an establishment while the
rioting spread to the Jokhang area and the whole
place just went crazy. I have been in a hotel [nearby] ever since."
"I have talked with army personnel and they appear very disorganised. They do not know what is going on and who is
giving orders. A group of tourists was
escorted out of the hotel and dropped on Jiangsu
Lu. They were heavily questioned and
asked where they had hidden their camera memory sticks. The Army guys said that
they should look for a hotel as the one they had been staying in had
burned. From what I understand??.the army just left them there on Jiangsu Lu with no clue whatsoever!"
"Now it looks like a total war zone. Maybe half the shops are burnt?.hundreds of them.
There is telegraph poles knocked down by tanks, a tank has driven
straight over the top of an SUV out the front of the hotel. There is a barricade of smashed cars that the
tanks have bulldozed into a protective ring around the Army compound out front
of the Jokhang. We have heard that the army is inside
the Jokhang but cannot go over there to look. We also heard reports of a young injured monk
who looked unconscious being carried on the back of a soldier."
?Yesterday we saw some very shocking things that I never want to see again."
"I saw army going from door to door, knocking and sometimes
dragging people outside. We could hear them banging on doors for some
time. I saw what I think is Chinese
special forces with high powered rifles.
I saw one soldier fire his weapon into a shop. The noise was so
loud. I couldn't see what was
inside. I haven't seen any bodies on the
street but I was inside during the worst of the action. The most horrible thing I saw was a person
riding their bike down the road. A mob ran
up behind them and pelted them with large rocks, knocking him/her to the
ground."
"I heard occasional gunfire (I assume it is gunfire) this
morning. It is now quite quiet but
everyone is very scared. We have enough
food for some time but have heard of many Chinese workers locked in their
workplaces and too scared to come out.
Friends talked to some workers who said they had eaten all their Ramen
noodles and had no food left."
"Yesterday we saw the military escorting Chinese people out of the Barkor area under heavy guard. We think they were hiding in their shops and
only came out when the military showed up.
They looked very very scared."
"Friends heard the train whistle or horn this morning so we think
the train is running. But we assume only outgoing traffic. We think a lot of Chinese people will be
leaving
The enclosed eyewitness report has been edited in order to remove the person?s identity:
"I am inside a hotel on Beijing Lu and have been here since the
start of the rioting. We cannot go
outside. We really cannot see or hear
much. We have heard that the Mosque is
damaged and that the old part of town [Barkor] is now
completely sealed off. We heard this
morning that there had been a big clash with Muslims but have
no confirmation of this. We are OK. They are serving only two meals a day as
there is not much food. We are worried
about running out of food."
The following eyewitness statement was received by email from inside
?The rioting has been ALL over Lhasa (unlike
1989), with Chinese and Muslim (Hui, ethnic Chinese)
shops being targeted and completely destroyed - probably over 1,000 Chinese
owned shops all over Lhasa. It's really a massive
riot, with cars & motorbikes turned over then burned all over town, Chinese
shops' contents splayed out onto the streets, and Han Chinese being literally
hunted down, beat up, and sometimes killed with large traditional Tibetan
knives. The Han Chinese are terrified, and (surprisingly?) don't understand
what's happening. All Tibetans we know think this will continue for days if not
weeks, although the Jokhang square seemed to finally
have been put under control late Friday evening, the mobs are moving west into
the more predominantly Chinese parts of town.
Today (Saturday morning) is martial law [martial law is not believed to
have been formally imposed, although eyewitness reports refer to security
conditions that are similar], there are soldiers every five feet on all major
roads (ie: just down the street from our hotel).
Tanks are lining the main street in the old part of town (center of the
trouble). One guy estimated 20,000 troops on the streets.
Yesterday?s riots were all over the entire city and undertaken by
all kinds of Tibetans, one friend saw 11 year old students in their uniforms
throwing stones at tanks.
We've been hearing loud booms / bangs (guns / tanks) throughout the day
yesterday and some last night as well.
Last night we heard a large group of voices singing in Tibetan somewhere
within a couple blocks, a very curious response. [ ] There is still tremendous debris from the
Chinese shops splayed out on the road [ ] and down the street, with Toilet
Paper strewn on all the electrical wires all the way down [the] street.
We heard this morning that the raids will happen tomorrow morning
[Sunday]. No Tibetans can walk around without ID cards.
[We have heard] there are so called ?massacres?
over by the Great Mosque, with intense fighting
between Muslims & Tibetans.
One Tibetan [told a friend] that he saw 50 Tibetans and a child get
gunned down by soldiers on