China arrests Tibetan monks after attack on police

Published on Sunday 22 March 2009 13:10

Nearly 100 Tibetan monks were arrested or turned themselves in today after hundreds of protesters attacked a police station in north-western China, state media reported.

The protest appeared to be in retaliation for the disappearance of a Tibetan who escaped from police custody in Qinghai province, the official Xinhua News Agency reported.

It was one of the largest reported protests in a tense month of tightened Chinese security in the region because of a number of sensitive anniversaries. One account by a Tibetan exile said the protest involved as many as 2,000 people and was sparked by the apparent suicide of a monk being investigated for unfurling a Tibetan flag, which is banned in China.

Xinhua said several hundred people – including nearly 100 monks from the Ragya Monastery – attacked the police station of Ragya, a township in the Tibetan prefecture of Golog, assaulting policemen and government staff on Saturday.

The assault caused some slight injuries, Xinhua said, without elaborating.

Six people were arrested for alleged involvement in the attack while 89 other people surrendered to police, Xinhua said. All but two were monks, it said. Police were searching for other monks who took part in the attack but fled, it cited local official Ju Kezhong as saying.

Order has been restored in the township, it said.

The violence began after a man accused of supporting Tibetan independence escaped from police custody on Saturday and went missing, Xinhua said.

It cited authorities as saying the man fled the Ragya police station after asking to go to the toilet, prompting a manhunt. It cited a witness as saying he was seen swimming in the Yellow River.

A former resident of the area who now lives in Dharmsala, India, said the protesters were angry because they believed the man, a 28-year-old monk named Tashi Sangpo, jumped in the river to commit suicide after fleeing.

"When Tashi was being interrogated by the officials, he asked their permission to go to the toilet. He then went out and jumped into the Yellow River," the exile said on condition of anonymity, citing fear of reprisals against his family still living in China. "The dead body is yet to be found."

The exile, who said he had received the information from people in Ragya, said 500 monks from the monastery protested outside the local administration office and the group swelled to about 2,000 as others from the village joined.

He said Tashi Sangpo was being investigated by police because he unfurled a Tibetan flag on the roof of the monastery on March 10, the anniversary of the start of a 1959 abortive Tibetan revolt against Chinese rule, and distributed pamphlets on the street urging unified protests against Chinese rule.

It was difficult to independently verify the account as government departments could not be reached Sunday. Communication is also spotty in the area and residents usually will not talk for fear of official retaliation.

Dharmsala is the seat of the Dalai Lama's self-proclaimed government-in-exile and the destination of many Tibetans who flee China.

Security in Tibetan areas has been tightened in recent weeks as Beijing tried to head off trouble ahead of the sensitive anniversaries this month. March 14 marked the one-year anniversary of anti-government riots in Lhasa, Tibet's regional capital, while March 17 marked 50 years since the Dalai Lama escaped into exile in India after Chinese troops crushed the 1959 revolt.

China claims Tibet has always been part of its territory, but many Tibetans say the Himalayan region was virtually independent for centuries and that Beijing's tight control is draining them of their culture and identity.