Tibet, China: Dialogue is crucial, says lama

This is a continuation of an RFA Mandarin service report from Wei Si:

The monks in the lamasery in Daofu county, Sichuan province, also tell us that a group of reporters arrived a few days ago, but were turned away by Chinese security forces who were guarding the gates. Such incidents have become commonplace since the Tibetan anti-Chinese protests which began on March the 14th in Lhasa, they say.

Tibet, China: Monks want Dalai Lama to come home

This report was filed for RFA’s Mandarin service, at considerable risk to the reporter, Wei Si:

It’s a journey of about 400 kilometres along highway from Kangding to Ganzi, in China’s southwestern province of Sichuan. The road is liberally dotted with Tibetan Buddhist monasteries and temples.

China, Tibet: Patriotism planned at Potala Palace torch rally

From RFA’s Cantonese service. Reporter: Hai Nan. Translated by Shiny Li and Luisetta Mudie:

Authorities in Tibet are planning a mass rally of Han Chinese government supporters to support the arrival of the Olympic torch in Tibet’s iconic Potala Palace, former home of the exiled Dalai Lama.

Travel agencies in the Tibetan capital said they had received approval from the ruling Communist Party’s Youth League to organize a “patriotic activity” on the arrival of the torch at the palace, formerly the heart of Tibetan Buddhism.

Tibet: Robbie Barnett on the recent unrest

Comments by Robbie Barnett, Tibet expert at Columbia University, March 27, 2008, regarding the recent major protests in Tibetan-populated rural areas, especially the temporary takeovers of government buildings and taking down of Chinese flags and raising of Tibetan flags:

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.

Tibet: Monks protest in Qinghai

Right now, we are protesting in the area of Tsolho. We are demanding that the Chinese leadership open a dialogue with His Holiness the Dalai Lama and peacefully resolve the Tibetan issue. We are also demanding that His Holiness be allowed to visit Tibet. Our protest is peaceful and involves about 10-15 monks from Serlho monastery in the Tsolho (in Chinese, Hainan) prefecture. Just now we are marching toward the subdistrict headquarters, and from there we plan to go to the county government. Hundreds of local Tibetans, mainly nomads, have joined us …

Newsdesk: China bars media, foreigners from Tibetan areas

Monday, March 17, 2008

“There are about 2,000 students in the Tibetan studies department of the Central Minorities University in Beijing—about 40 of them staged a silent protest to mourn the people killed or injured in other parts of Tibet. The police came in, and they are being held now in their classrooms.”—Protest participant in Beijing

“The authorities in Madro Gonkar and Taktse, in Phenpo, have closed the schools in these areas—after the students protested over the last two days.”—Tibetan in Canada, who spoke with relatives in Tibet

Newsdesk: Tibetan protests spread into western China

Some of the most remote areas of the Sichuan, Gansu and Qinghai plateau are home to extensive Tibetan populations, many of whom are nomadic tribes.

In Gansu

“Tibetan students in the Tibetan language department of North West National University of Lanzhou, in Gansu, staged a peaceful demonstration on the school grounds. More than 1,000 Tibetan students took part, and Tibetan students from other departments tried to join in but were blocked. They declared that their protest was peaceful, and they urged the Chinese authorities to stop their crackdown on Tibetans in Lhasa and other Tibetan areas.”

“They also expressed solidarity with those Tibetans who protested in Lhasa, Labrang, and others outside Tibet. They had a banner that read, ‘We stand together with Tibetans, for glorious democracy and life.”

Newsdesk: Police open fire on Tibetans in Lhasa

KATHMANDU—–Chinese police fired on rioting Tibetan protesters in Lhasa on Friday, killing at least two people, as Tibetans torched cars and shops and anti-Chinese demonstrators surged through the streets of the regional capital, Radio Free Asia (RFA) reports.

Witnesses who spoke to RFA’’s Tibetan service reported seeing two bodies in the central Barkor area of Lhasa, while unconfirmed reports set the death toll higher.

“There was shooting and death,” another Tibetan source told RFA’’s Mandarin service, adding, “”It’s not convenient to speak on the phone”.”

“Now the local Tibetans are protesting in the Barkor area,” a third Tibetan source said, referring to a central area in Lhasa. “They ransacked Chinese shops and the police fired live ammunition into the crowd. No one is allowed to move around in Lhasa now.”