Beijing - Police in south-western China detained 15 Tibetans
on Monday after they staged a protest in support of the exiled Dalai
Lama and Tibetan independence, a Tibetan exile group reported.
The police detained the Tibetans after they marched through the
centre of the town of Litang, Sichuan province, shouting slogans
including 'Long live the Dalai Lama' and 'Independence for Tibet,'
the Tibetan Centre for Human Rights and Democracy (TCHRD) said.
The protestors also called for the 'Swift return of the Dalai Lama
to Tibet' and shouted 'No Losar (Tibetan New Year) celebration this
year,' the group quoted witnesses as saying.
The report of the protest and the arrests could not immediately be
confirmed.
TCHRD is based in the Indian hill town of Dharamshala, which is
also home to the Tibetan government-in-exile and the Dalai Lama.
It said the two-hour protest was peaceful and followed another one
on Sunday by a single monk in Litang.
Monday's protest was led by Sonam Tenpa, 29, a younger brother of
the monk, TCHRD said.
Some protestors were beaten as paramilitary police forced them
onto military trucks, and several suffered bruising and bleeding from
injuries to their noses, heads and arms, TCHRD said.
The arrested protestors were aged 21 to 41 and were all from
nomadic families which had resettled in Litang town, it said.
TCHRD said it had unconfirmed reports that police detained two
more groups of Tibetans in Litang, after reinforcements arrived
following the monk's protest on Sunday.
It said the two other groups were supporters of Rongyal Adrak, who
was sentenced to eight years in prison in November 2007 for 'inciting
to split the country at an international sports event,' according to
the Chinese government.
In August 2007, Rongyal Adrak seized the microphone at the Litang
horse festival and asked the mainly Tibetan crowd if the Dalai Lama
should be allowed to return to China.
Police nationwide detained thousands of Tibetans last year after
independence protests and riots erupted in Litang and dozens of other
Tibetan areas.
The protests began in Lhasa, the capital of the Tibetan Autonomous
Region, on March 10, the 49th anniversary of a failed Tibetan
uprising against Chinese rule.
The government said 19 people were killed in the rioting but the
Tibetan government-in-exile said about 140 people were killed, most
of them Tibetans shot by Chinese paramilitary police.
Tibetan exiles have alleged that the government has intensified a
crackdown in Tibetan areas in the run-up to the anniversary of the
rioting and the 50th anniversary of the flight into exile of the
Dalai Lama.
Officials have urged Tibetans not to join a campaign by exile
groups for a boycott of the week-long Tibetan lunar new year
celebrations, which begin February 23.
USA
Your Talkback on this Story