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Tibet protests intensify 03/18/2008 http://www.dispatch.co.za/article.aspx?id=183911 HEAVY-HANDED: Nepalese police officers detain a Tibetan protester in front of the UN offices in Katmandu, Nepal, yesterday. Police used bamboo batons to disperse about 100 Tibetan protesters and Buddhist monks in the capital yesterday, arresting around 30 marchers in the latest crackdown on pro-Tibet demonstrations. Picture: AP AT LEAST eight people were killed when police opened fire after a protest by monks in southwest China at the weekend, three activist groups said. The latest incident took place on Sunday in Ngawa town in Sichuan province – which borders Tibet and has a large ethnic Tibetan population. The monks and some laity were protesting against Chinese rule in their Himalayan homeland, the campaign groups said. The International Campaign for Tibet said one of the victims was a 15-year-old student. It further stated that more than a thousand monks had joined the protest at the Kirti monastery. The London-based Free Tibet Campaign and the Tibetan Campaign for Human Rights and Democracy, in India, said at least eight dead bodies were brought into the monastery. The protest was one of many that have broken out across China in the past week against Chinese rule in Tibet. These occurred on the anniversary of a 1959 uprising that led to the Buddhist spiritual leader, the Dalai Lama, fleeing into exile. On Friday a protest in the Tibetan capital, Lhasa, descended into violence which resulted in the deaths of at least 13 people after shops and markets were set on fire. According to Tibet’s government-in-exile, a total of 80 people have been killed so far in the ongoing protest action. In neighbouring Nepal, dozens of Tibetan protestors were arrested yesterday by police following clashes during anti-China demonstrations in the capital, Kathmandu. The clashes erupted when Tibetan demonstrators, numbering about 400, tried to picket the UN offices in Kathmandu. Police made baton charges and fired tear gas to disperse the Tibetan demonstrators gathered outside the UN offices. “We will continue our protests in Nepal,” said Thupden Tenzing Zamphel, the leader of the Nepal-Tibetan Volunteer Youth Forum. “We will not stop our protest in the face of police action.” According to Zamphel, few protesters were injured during the clashes, but he said he did not know the exact figures. “A few people sustained head injuries, while others have injuries elsewhere on the body due to the police action,” Zamphel said. He also said the police had detained between 50 to 60 of the demonstrators who had gone to picket the UN offices. In the northern Indian hill town of Dharamsala, the seat of Tibetan spiritual leader the Dalai Lama and the Tibetan government-in-exile, five Tibetan non-governmental organisations condemned the “violent crackdown” by Chinese authorities. “We fear the worst for our Tibetan brothers and sisters as the Chinese authorities lock down Lhasa and deploy armed police and troops across the country,” said Ngawang Woebar, president of GuChuSum Ex-Political Prisoners’ Movement of Tibet. — Sapa-DPA Note: Comments do not represent the views of SikhNet. Comments containing profanity, provocation or slandar will be removed by the moderators.
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