Newsdesk: UPDATED – Tibetans in Karze (Ganzi)

The following quotations are garnered from recent reporting by RFA’s Mandarin and Cantonese services on the situation in Tibetan areas of China:

RFA Cantonese interviewed Ms Zhou (a Tibetan) Tuesday. During the interview, at about 2 pm local time, she said there were about 200 protesters including monks from monasteries in the area, protesting in the town. They were calling for Tibetan freedom and independence. Some local residents were joining the demonstrations. They clashed with large numbers of armed police on arriving at the county government buildings.

Newsdesk: Tibetan blogger Woeser under house arrest

Tibetan writer Woeser’s husband, Wang Lixiong, who is an ethnic Han Chinese, told Mandarin reporter Ding Xiao that Woeser has been confined to their home in Beijing since March 10, the 49^th anniversary of the 1959 Tibetan uprising.

It was ‘inconvenient’ for Woeser to speak to RFA, a phrase often used to denote a fear of reprisal from the Chinese authorities.

Wang Lixiong said: “She has been under house arrest since March 10. Her movements are restricted, as are mine. In the past, I was their main target. But now she has become part of the target. Whatever movement we plan to make, we must first ask for approval. Only when it’s approved by higher-up can we make a move under surveillance.”

Newsdesk: Fallout from Sichuan Tibetan unrest

Quotes from Ding Xiao’s report, March 19 – 中国境内藏族学生全面受控　藏区不准离校引发冲突

In Maerkang county, Gansu province, an ethnic Han teacher at the Maerkang Normal College told Mandarin reporter Ding Xiao that beginning March 15th Tibetan students who live on campus have been forbidden from returning to their homes in the rural area, and that some had protested against the policy and clashed with campus security.

He said: “The Tibetan students at the Maerkang Normal College – their homes and parents are in Ngaba prefecuture (in Chinese, Aba). They heard some rumors and wanted to go back home. The school stopped them from going, saying that it would be safer on campus.

China: Hu Jia tried for subversion, verdict expected soon

Hu Jia stood trial Tuesday on charges of subversion.

His lawyers revealed that prosecutors focused on Hu Jia publishing six articles on boxun.com and talking to two overseas media outlets.

Hu Jia didn’t deny these charges during the trial, and his lawyers tried to defend him from the perspective of freedom of speech.

Lawyer Li Fangping said: “We don’t deny the facts listed in the charges, they are in fact what Hu Jia has written and said.”

“But first of all we think freedom of speech must be respected. Second, we think there is conflict between freedom of speech listed in the Chinese Constitution and the charges of incitement to subversion listed in the Chinese Criminal Code. There is a huge gap between us and the prosecutors on how we understand those two things.”

Newsdesk: Crackdown continues in Lhasa

“The Chinese police, backed by the People’s Armed Police are raiding Tibetan houses in the Lhasa area. They are looking for residential permits and if anyone doesn’t have resident permits, they are taken away without reason. Even those Tibetans who do not have residential permits but who are suspected for any reason, are taken away.

For example, around 10 pm on March 15th a group of 15 to 20 police backed by PAP with protective riot gear started raiding Tibetan houses. One family from Kham Tsawa Pasho whose father is Kalsang Gyaltsen was raided. He has two sons, Locho and Jhampa, and a daughter. The daughter had a residence permit and other family members had applied for permits but approval was still pending.

Newsdesk: Tibetan update from Ngaba, Sichuan

From RFA Mandarin service reporter Ding Xiao in Hong Kong:

According to RFA, several Tibetan herdsmen protested in Jiuzhi County, Qinghai province Monday, but some lamas at the local monastery dissuaded them from becoming more radical.

The authorities sent troops to Jiuzhi over night and declared a curfew. A Tibetan in Jiuzhi said: “At first there was a demonstration, then (the Tibetans) destroyed shops. Lamas came over to persuade them not to riot. All participants were Tibetan herdsmen, about two or three hundred.”

“Police rushed to the scene but the protesters destroyed police car. There is no demonstration today (Tuesday). All demonstrators dispersed last night around six or seven o’clock. The troops arrived at six o’clock this morning. The streets are now full of soldiers. From 6:30 in the morning, (the authorities) banned people from going outside. All stores have been closed and you cannot go shopping.”

Newsdesk: Uyghurs support Tibetan cause

Many remote areas of the Sichuan, Gansu, and Qinghai plateau are home to large Tibetan populations, many of whom are nomads. Tibet also has an internal border with China’s northwestern region of Xinjiang, home to the Muslim Uyghur ethnic group, who also deeply resent Beijing’s rule. Here, their most prominent opponent of the Chinese regime, speaks out on Tibet for the first time:

The World Uyghur Congress condemns China’s use of military force against the peaceful Tibetan protesters in Lhasa and other provinces, and calls upon Chinese leaders to start constructive negotiations with His Holiness the Dalai Lama to seek a peaceful political solution to the problem.

Newsdesk: Hu Jia’s trial is on Tuesday

Hu’s lawyer Li Fangping told RFA’s Cantonese service:

“They (the court) officially notified us tonight that Hu’s case will be tried next Tuesday [at the Beijing No.1 Intermediate People’s Court]. The indictment is very simple, consisting only of two sentences. The charge is ‘incitement to subvert state power’.”

China: UPDATED-Hu Jia indicted for subversion

UPDATE: from RFA’s Mandarin service [独家报道：律师拿到对胡佳“涉嫌煽动颠覆国家政权罪”起诉书]

HONG KONG—Authorities in Beijing have formally charged AIDS activist Hu Jia with “incitement to subversion” after he wrote articles online critical of China’s hosting of the Olympics, his lawyers said.

Baby Under House Arrest: Hu Qianci at four months. Courtesy of Zeng Jinyan’s blog.

China: Petitioner belief prompts pre-Olympic rush on capital

There is a saying among petitioners that if your problem cannot be solved before the Olympics, it will be even harder after the Games.

– Petitioner Liu Feiyue

The strength of this belief reminds me of the mythologies and stories told by other groups in a state of severe disempowerment, like street children. These stories are used like maps in a hostile terrain in which recognisable, ‘normal’ human meaning systems  (eg: children will be cared for; the judicial system will mostly apply the law) have completely broken down. I suppose I think this because from where I’m sitting, petitioners look equally unlikely to get what they are looking for on either side of the Olympics. The following is a digest of recent reporting on petitioners and blogger activists by RFA’s Mandarin service, translated by Chen Ping: