Tibetan Monk Detained in New Solo Protest in Ngaba


2016.05.02
tibet-ngaba-map-620.jpg Map showing Ngaba county in Sichuan province.
RFA

A Tibetan monk enrolled in Sichuan’s restive Kirti monastery was taken into custody by police on Monday after staging a solo protest in nearby Ngaba town, sources in the region said.

Lobsang Thubten, believed to be in his 20s, was detained shortly after launching his protest at about 3:30 p.m. on May 2 on a street known locally as Heroes’ Road in the main town of Ngaba (in Chinese, Aba) county in the Ngaba Tibetan and Qiang Autonomous Prefecture, a local resident told RFA’s Tibetan Service.

“He walked in the road with a photo of [exiled spiritual leader] the Dalai Lama and called for his long life and for freedom for Tibet,” RFA’s source said, speaking on condition of anonymity.

“Not long afterward, he was detained by local police and taken away,” he said.

Police snatched the Dalai Lama’s photo away from Thubten, handcuffed him, and covered his face with his robe before pushing him into a police vehicle and driving away, he said.

No word was immediately available regarding where Thubten had been taken or on his present condition, though Tibetan protesters are frequently beaten when being taken into custody by Chinese police or other security forces.

More police arrive

Tibetans present in the area at the time that Thubten was seized attempted to pursue the vehicle taking him away but were unable to stop it, a second local resident told RFA.

“Afterward, the town was left quiet, as if nothing had happened,” the source said, also speaking on condition he not be named.

“Four more vehicles carrying police arrived in the town during the evening.  It is difficult to say what will happen tomorrow,” the source said.

Thubten’s Kirti monastery has been the scene of repeated self-immolations and other protests by monks, former monks, and nuns opposed to Chinese rule in Tibetan areas.

Authorities raided the institution in 2011, taking away hundreds of monks and sending them for “political re-education” while local Tibetans who sought to protect the monks were beaten and detained, sources said in earlier reports.

Sporadic demonstrations challenging Beijing’s rule and calling for the Dalai Lama’s return have continued in Tibetan-populated areas of China since widespread protests swept the region in 2008.

Reported by Kunsang Tenzin for RFA’s Tibetan Service. Translated by Karma Dorjee. Written in English by Richard Finney.

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