Category: 
The following is a summary of protests in Tibet on March 17th:
On the morning of March 17th, around 100 students from Marthang Nationality Middle School in Marthang County (Ch: Hongyuan xian), Ngaba (Ch: Aba) Prefecture TAP, Sichuan Province, began a spontaneous demonstration inside the school compound. At the morning flag raising ceremony, the students took down the Chinese flag and replaced it with a Tibetan flag. They carried pictures of the Dalai Lama, and called for His return to Tibet. Around 40 students were severely beaten before being arrested.
Also in Ngaba, 500 monks and 200 to 300 lay people protested. Two monks are shot and injured.
Tibetan students of the North-Western National University (Ch: Xiebei minzu daxue) in Lanzhou, Gansu province, held a 24-hour hunger strike and candlelight vigil on the school’s football field. The authorities threatened that the organisers would be kicked out from the university.
In Machu County, Gannan TAP, Gansu Province, a crowd of 300 to 400 people carried pictures of His Holiness the Dalai Lama as they marched on government buildings, breaking windows and doors, and setting fire to Chinese shops and businesses.
There have been various reports of military build up in parts of Gansu Province.
Around 200 Tibetan clergy and lay devotees gathered for a religious teaching by a revered local teacher, Trulku Tenzi Pai Wangchuk in Chigdril Country (Ch: Juizhi Xian), Golog TAP, Qinghai Province, when it was suddenly disrupted by Chinese security personnel. The people began protesting and were quickly surrounded by the security personnel.
Also in Chigdril County, about a hundred monks from Minthang Monastery and some lay people protested. They marched to a nearby local police station shouting pro-independence slogans.
In a separate incident, hundreds of monks from Lungkar Monastery and lay people in Chigdril County held a candlelight vigil, expressing their solidarity with the Tibetan protestors in various parts of the Tibet. Chinese security personnel kept a close eye on all of demonstrations in the area. Eyewitnesses said the situation was tense.
TCHRD confirmed reports of an evening demonstration in Dechen Township, Toelung Dechen County, in Lhasa. The protest was initially started by a dozen monks from Dinka Monastery, in Dinka Township, and later joined by lay people. The crowd grew out of the control of the local security forces in the area, so a large contingent of People’s Armed Police (PAP) and Public Security Bureau (PSB) security officers were dispatched to disperse the Tibetan protesters. Around 30 Tibetans, both monks and lay people, were arrested.
There are 2 comment(s) so far ;)
make or buy a “free tibet” shirt !
go outside wearing it !
press your MP into taking an attitude !
you also have the power !
if the athletes don’t boycott the olympics you can choose not to watch (buy the endorsed products, talk about it…)
turn your tv down to anything olympic-related, try not to buy anything chinese (I know it’s difficult, but just try !)
we have the power of the powerless !
I have been appalled by the fact that so many governments have ignored the human rights issues taking place in Tibet and Darfur, by bending to the Chinese governments’ restrictions on free speech for olympians. Countries are actually restricting the free speech rights of their own olympic atheletes while they are competing in Beijing! What has happened to our courage to stand up to injustice on this planet? Rather than condoning these practices in cowardice, why aren’t governments encouraging a powerful global statement through their atheletes, that freedom and human rights are critical and those that dishonor them, deserve to be dishonored. Do people actaully believe that if China is to become one of the next world powers, that these types of practices which we don’t hold in check now, will not eventually become a reality in their own daily lives, or in the lives of their children?? What if ALL the olympic atheletes took a greater moral stand than their personal goals and made a global, historic statement against these injustices by speaking out as a unified group against these behaviors? Can you imagine the powerful and historic statement that would make…perhaps evoking greater pride in those atheletes than any medal could ever deliver, while deeply honoring the intentions of the olympics in an unprecedented and planet-changing way! Anyone interested in making history??