By Tenzin Tsering
Dharamsala, August 16: Police in Lithang County are on the hunt for two Tibetan monks who, despite their open protest at a busy market place, escaped arrest Thursday. Radio Free Asia reported the two monks made rounds of the town’s market place carrying a picture of the exile Tibetan leader the Dalai Lama and the banned Tibetan national flag.
Passersby have heard the monks shout “long live the Dalai Lama” as they walked from Trungtrung Karmo market to the local vegetable market, a source with contacts in the region told RFA.
“Due to heavy noise of motors and traffic in that area, only the people around the market place were able to hear the monks shout ‘Long Live the Dalai Lama, ” the source was quoted as saying.
Police immediately arrived at the scene but failed to arrest the two as local Tibetans gathered there in large numbers gave cover to them. The police could not identify or arrest the two.
The incident of protest comes in the wake of the third anniversary of another Lithang man’s public defiance in August 2007 at an annual horse racing festival and his subsequent arrest. Rungye Adrak grabbed the microphone and made a public speech at a gathering on August 1, 2007 criticizing the Chinese government and expressing loyalty to the Dalai Lama.
A video of the speech was made public earlier this month by a Washington based advocacy group. Lithang’s popular horse race festival which draws thousands of people from nearby villages remains banned by the Chinese authorities since then.
Adrak is serving eight years’ imprisonment for the act that was ruled as “inciting separation of nationalities” by a Chinese court.
Chinese police have spread word asking the monks to surrender, but so far no arrest has been made.
“The Chinese police, without making any public announcement, are trying to spread the message through word of mouth asking the monks to surrender voluntarily,” the source said adding, “They say that if they voluntarily surrender themselves, the future will be good.”
Staff who answered the phone at the Lithang police station confirmed the incident but refused to give details, reported the RFA
