Following the protests by monks in Drango (Ch: Luhuo) County on 24 March, leading to the death of an 18-year-old monk and the subsequent solidarity protest on 25 March 2008, the local authority has expelled a large number of monks from Chogri Monastery and arrested some nuns of Nanggong (Tib translit: nganga sgong) Nunnery, according to confirmed information received by the Tibetan Centre for Human Rights and Democracy (TCHRD). Sources also reported disappearances of many lay people from the area.
On 26 March 2008, under the pretext of a call for a meeting with the authorities, two former abbots of Chogri Monastery, Geshe Namgyal Tsering and Geshe Sonam Gyurmey, were detained in the County Public Security Bureau (PSB) Detention Centre.
In an apparent measure to bring Tibetans in the area under control, the authorities called for a Getse Township meeting during which the residents were ordered to denounce and criticize the Dalai Lama and the “separatist” forces. An elderly woman, Ama Tsanglo, steadfastedly refused to abide by the order and on the contrary called for the fast “return of the Dalai Lama to Tibet”. Upon this, the Township Party Secretary beat her brutally, amidst which she shouted, “I will never denounce the Dalai Lama. Even if you kill me today I won’t have any regrets.”
Unable to see his old mother getting beaten mercilessly, her son sprang from the crowd and gave some strong physical blows to the Party Secretary. At the time of releasing this update, both the Party Secretary and Tsanglo are hospitalized, the whereabouts of the son is unknown.
