March 17 – More reports of sporadic protests in other parts of Tibet are emerging, indicating protests have trickled into the neighboring counties as Lhasa city remains tightly under Chinese control for the fourth consecutive day. The ibetan Centre for Human Rights and Democracy (TCHRD) received confirmed information from multiple sources inside Tibet that a fresh demonstration was spearheaded by the monks of Gaden Choekhor Monastery, Phenpo Lhundup County (Ch: Linzhou Xian), Lhasa Municipality, “Tibet Autonomous Region” (“TAR”) which was later joined by common citizens at the County government headquarters.
Monks, nuns and common citizens of Phenpo Lhundup County, east of Lhasa, staged a peaceful protest yesterday on 16 March at the County government headquarters in a continuation of a previous protest on 15 March. Sources revealed that a similar protest is currently going at Phenpo Lhundup People’s Armed Police (PAP) and Public Security Bureau (PSB) officials in the area have severely restricted the movement of civilians. As of yet, there have been no reports of arrests on detentions at this particular protest. TCHRD is awaiting more updates from the area. At the time of reception of this information, there were no reports of arrest and detention at the place of demonstration.
A similar protest was also reported from Meldrogungkar, Meldrogungkar County (Ch: Mozhu Gongka Xain), “TAR”. This morning monks and nuns from various clusters of monasteries and nunneries situated in Meldrogungkar County gathered for a peaceful demonstration in County headquarter. Like any other peaceful protest in Tibet, they were barred from proceeding with their demonstration by the county PAP and PSB officials. Reinforcements were called in to the area from nearby Lhasa city to contain the demonstration and prevent them from gaining momentum into a scale and intensity as has happened in other parts of Tibet in the past few days. We have no information of arrests or detentions.
TCHRD will continue to monitor the situation and will update as and when more information surface.
