MB Civic

A Pakistan News
October 22, 2008

An exclusive report from The Times (UK).
Think about the bravery of the Tibetans,
marching down to the police encampment
to demand the release of the monks. The
Chinese police response is sickening but
not surprising:

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.

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..

*studentsforafreetibet.org

( This post is from an independent writer.
The opinions and views expressed herein
are those of the author and are not
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