This is a continuation of an RFA Mandarin service report from Wei Si:
The monks in the lamasery in Daofu county, Sichuan province, also tell us that a group of reporters arrived a few days ago, but were turned away by Chinese security forces who were guarding the gates. Such incidents have become commonplace since the Tibetan anti-Chinese protests which began on March the 14th in Lhasa, they say. Continue reading »
This report was filed for RFA’s Mandarin service, at considerable risk to the reporter, Wei Si:
It’s a journey of about 400 kilometres along highway from Kangding to Ganzi, in China’s southwestern province of Sichuan. The road is liberally dotted with Tibetan Buddhist monasteries and temples. Continue reading »
From RFA’s Cantonese service. Reporter: Hai Nan. Translated by Shiny Li and Luisetta Mudie:
Authorities in Tibet are planning a mass rally of Han Chinese government supporters to support the arrival of the Olympic torch in Tibet’s iconic Potala Palace, former home of the exiled Dalai Lama.
Travel agencies in the Tibetan capital said they had received approval from the ruling Communist Party’s Youth League to organize a “patriotic activity” on the arrival of the torch at the palace, formerly the heart of Tibetan Buddhism. Continue reading »
Professor Guo Quan of Nanjing Normal University told Mandarin reporter Ding Xiao that student counselors have been told to pay attention to students’ movements, and to make sure they are not going to stage public demonstrations:
All the student counselors have been told to ‘manage student sentiment’ and to learn what students are going to do, and to make sure that students don’t go out to demonstrate. Continue reading »
From Mandarin service reporter Shen Hua:
There were Tibetan protests in Heka Township in Xinghai County of Qinghai Province on March 25. Around 15 or 16 participants have been detained, including some who surrendered themselves to police.
Gesang Jianzan, a member of the Tibetan Government in Exile told RFA that “As far as I know, around a thousand Tibetans took part in the protests, including monks and laymen. They carried banners such as ‘There is no freedom in Tibet!’ ‘Let Dalai Lama home!’” “Several dozens have been arrested, including several people of whom I know their names.”
Mr. Zhang in Heka Township told RFA that “I heard several dozens of Tibetan demonstrated on March 25. They were carrying white flags at the demonstration.” He said “Now the local situation is stable.” The white flags are in fact banners with slogans. Continue reading »
From RFA Mandarin service reporter Ding Xiao in Hong Kong. Translated by Chen Ping.
After the Tibet riots, the communications of Tibetans living in China are under surveillance, and they don’t dare to express their views for fear of retribution for the authorities, as talking to foreign media might get them punished. However, a Tibetan youth who lives in the Mgo Log (in Chinese, Guoluo) Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture, in the northwestern province of Qinghai, told us some of his thoughts on the recent unrest:
Tibetan: Recently the tensions have been subsided pretty much, and we can cross into neighboring province. For example, we can travel to Aba Tibetan and Qiang Autonomous Prefecture of Sichuan Province with an ID of any kind. However, soldiers are currently going around temples, several in a group, always.
RFA: Any reduction of security forces?
Tibetan: No, it is still the same. Probably they will withdraw after September. We inevitably feel oppressed as troops are everywhere and we cannot go out easily.
RFA: Do you Tibetans discuss the current situation?
Tibetan: Normally we don’t talk about it. There was never any freedom of speech in China in the first place. Continue reading »
I thought that this [the uprising] was the right thing to do. I participated in the protests and was among the protesters in the area of Ramoche monastery for about two hours. I knew that the protests were expressions of Tibetan despair over Chinese oppression in our own country. The actual suppression and crackdown by Chinese forces began on the night of March 14. At roughly 8 p.m., Tibetans in the Lhasa area heard that Chinese forces were coming. Many left and went to their homes, while others continued their protests. That very night I saw many Tibetans being taken away and Chinese armed police firing on Tibetans.
Within a short period, about 200 Tibetans were detained. In the midst of the commotion, it was hard to tell who was alive or dead and who was taken away. I saw some Chinese with head injuries. Continue reading »
From RFA’s Mandarin service.
A woman from Karze (in Chinese, Ganzi) county in the southwestern province of Sichuan, who has spoken to RFA before, indirectly indicated to Mandarin reporter Qiao Long that troops are still stationed in the area:
“Tibetans here won’t be able to stage any protest,” she said. “The death from last week’s protest, occurred in the urban area.” Continue reading »
Comments by Robbie Barnett, Tibet expert at Columbia University, March 27, 2008, regarding the recent major protests in Tibetan-populated rural areas, especially the temporary takeovers of government buildings and taking down of Chinese flags and raising of Tibetan flags: Continue reading »
From a Hunan man on the RFA Mandarin call-in program Listener Hotline, March 27:
The Tibet issue is analogous to forcing a woman to marry a man. The man may give the woman food, clothing, and shelter, but material things cannot replace spiritual values. She is a human being. The Dalai Lama is the rightful leader of the Tibetan people. He is like a parent to them, and yet the Chinese government vilifies him and kicked him out of his own home. Stability based on force cannot last. Continue reading »