CHINESE SECURITY forces have detained up to 24 Tibetans for taking to the streets shouting support for exiled spiritual leader the Dalai Lama, Tibetan advocacy groups said yesterday.
The protests in Lithang, in a volatile Tibetan area of western China, took place just weeks before the anniversary of last year’s deadly rioting across the Himalayan region, as well as the 50th anniversary of the exile of the Dalai Lama, whom Beijing considers a dangerous separatist.
The unrest was sparked by the arrest of a Tibetan who called for a boycott of the celebration next week of Losar, the Tibetan New Year.
At least 24 people were detained and several injured in the demonstrations on Sunday and Monday around Lithang, which is in the mountains of Sichuan province in the Tibetan Kham region, that drew hundreds of participants and onlookers, the Free Tibet Campaign said in a statement.
Quoting local witnesses, the group said Sunday’s unrest began after Buddhist monk Lobsang Lhundup ( 37) began shouting slogans outside Lithang’s vegetable market calling on people not to observe next month’s traditional Tibetan new year and praising the Dalai Lama, Tibet’s spiritual leader who fled into exile in 1959 following an abortive uprising against Chinese rule.
Security forces moved in, beating up those present and detaining Lobsang.
Up to 400 people attended the protest at the same location the next day and troops attacked with batons and rifle butts, detaining over 12 people.
Authorities sealed off Tibet and Tibetan parts of western China last year following an anti-government riot in Tibet’s capital, Lhasa, on March 14th that sparked the largest anti-government protests among Tibetans in decades.