Over one hundred Tibetans in Marthang County, Ngaba “TAP” staged a peaceful protest yesterday afternoon. So far there have been no cases of arrests or detentions were made after the protest, according to confirmed information received by the Tibetan Centre for Human Rights and Democracy (TCHRD). This is in the continuation of the reports that the Centre has highlighted in the past few days starting from 10 March uprising day.
Yesterday at around 1:00 pm (Beijing Standard Time), scores of Tibetan monks of Achok Tsenyi Monastery in Achok Township, Marthang County (Ch: Hongyuan Xian), Ngaba “TAP” Sichuan Province, staged a peaceful protest which was later joined by numbers of common citizens of Achok Township. The protestors headed towards the Township government headquarter in the main market area where protesters brought down the Chinese national flag and hoisted the banned Tibetan national flag in its place at the government headquarters. The protesters were shouting slogans calling for the return of the Dalai Lama and freedom in Tibet. The local Public Security Bureau (PSB) officers demanded protesters to call off the demonstration although, the protesters continued. Truckloads of armed police were brought into the main market areas to quell the protesters. There is no information on the number of arrest or detention of protesters at the moment. The Centre will continue to monitor the situation.
In another incident, on the evening of 10 March, monks of Dzoge Thangkor Soktsang Monastery in Dzoge County (Ch: Zoige Xian), Ngaba “TAP” Sichuan Province, lowered the Chinese flag hoisted inside the monastery compound and the same incident was repeated on the 14 March despite attempts made by the authorities to re-hoist the flag, according to confirmed information received by TCHRD. On the evening of 16 March, at around 6:30 PM (Beijing Standard Time) scores of Dzoge Thangkor Soktsang Monastery’s monks were barred from proceeding with their protest march towards the County government headquarters by hundreds of armed police.
The next morning at around 11:00 (Beijing Standard Time), a protest was again led by the monks of Dzoge Thangkor Soktsang Monastery which headed towards County government headquarters and was joined by common citizens, shouting slogans calling for the independence for Tibet, “Long Live the Dalai Lama”, “Release Panchen Lama” and “China quit Tibet”. The protestors stormed into the compound of the County PSB headquarters and lowered the Chinese flag, replacing it with the banned Tibetan national flag. Within a few minutes, tear gas shells were fired into the protesters by armed security forces to disperse the protesters. There is no information on the number of arrests or detentions at the moment from that incident, although, TCHRD will continue to monitor the situation inside Tibet closely.
