MB Civic

Times Online, April 4, 2008
Jane Macartney in Beijing

Chinese paramilitary police have killed
eight people after opening fire on several
hundred Tibetan monks and villagers in
bloody violence that will fuel human rights
protests as London prepares to host its leg
of the Olympic torch relay this weekend.

Witnesses said the clash – in which dozens
were wounded – erupted late last night
after a government inspection team
entered a monastery in the Chinese
province of Sichuan trying to confiscate
pictures of the Dalai Lama.

Officials searched the room of every monk
in the Donggu monastery, a sprawling 15th
century edifice in Ganzi, southwestern
Sichuan, confiscating all mobile phones as
well as the pictures.

When the inspectors tore up the
photographs and threw them on the floor,
a 74-year-old monk, identified as Cicheng
Danzeng, tried to stop an act seen as a
desecration by Tibetans who revere the
Dalai Lama as their god king.

A young man working in the monastery,
identified as Cicheng Pingcuo, 25, also
made a stand and both were arrested. The
team then demanded that all the monks
denounce the Dalai Lama, who fled China
after a failed uprising in 1959. One monk,
Yixi Lima, stood up and voiced his
opposition, prompting the other monks to
add their voices.

At about 6.30 p.m., the entire monastic
body marched down to a nearby river
where paramilitary police were encamped
and demanded the release of the two men.

They were joined by several hundred local
villagers, many of them enraged at the
detention of the 74-year-old monk Cicheng
Danzeng, who locals say is well respected in
the area for his learning and piety.
Shouting “Long Live the Dalai Lama,” “Let
the Dalai Lama come back” and “We want
freedom”, the crowd demonstrated until
about nine in the evening.

Witnesses said that at around that time, as
many as 1,000 paramilitary police used
force to try to end the protest and opened
fire on the crowd. It was not known if the
demonstrators had been throwing stones at the police.

In the gunfire, eight people died, according
to a local resident in direct contact with the
monastery. These included a 27-year-old
monk identified as Cangdan and two
women named as Zhulongcuo and Danluo.

Witnesses said a 30-year-old villager, Pupu
Deley, was killed, along with the son of a
villager named Cangdan, and the daughter
of villager Cuogu. Two other people, whose
identities were not available, were also
killed and dozens were wounded, the
witnesses said.

They said about ten people were still
missing today, including another monk,
identified as Ciwang Renzhen.

Armed paramilitary police patrolled the
streets of the village today and surrounded
the monastery. All communications had
been cut.

The latest upsurge of violence highlights
the difficulties the Chinese authorities are
facing in trying to end nearly a month of
protests across the Tibetan region and the
depth of anti-Chinese sentiment among a
deeply Buddhist minority loyal to the exiled
Dalai Lama. It comes just as the issue of
unrest has become a magnet for activists
around the world who are criticising
China’s human rights record as it prepares
to host the Olympic Games in Beijing in
August.

The incident, which will cast a shadow of
Beijing plans to reopen the Tibetan capital,
Lhasa, to tourists by May 1, came as the
authorities appeared to have regained
control of the vast parts of China that have
large ethnic Tibetan populations.

In Lhasa, police issued their Number 13
most wanted list, bringing to 79 the
number of people still sought for their
roles in a deadly riot on March 14 when
angry Tibetans rampaged through the
streets of the Tibetan capital, stabbing and
stoning ethnic Han Chinese and setting fire
to hundreds of shops and offices. At least
18 people died in the violence.

Lhasa authorities today sent out a message
by mobile phone to residents, offering a
reward of 20,000 yuan (£1,300) to anyone
who could offer information leading to the
arrest of those wanted for the violence.

Two monks in the mountainous Sichuan
province have committed suicide, according
to Tibetan sources. A 32-year-old monk at
Kirti monastery hanged himself in his room
on March 27, leaving a signed suicide note.

A 72-year-old from Guomang temple,
apparently upset after being detained
while en route to a religious ceremony
with his disciples, returned to his
monastery and killed himself.