#20.2

15 monks in Labrang (Xiahe) disrupt another Chinese-organized media tour:

Monks carry a Tibetan flag and shout slogans as a group of journalists, invited to an official visit by the local government, arrived at the Labrang Monestry in Xiahe, Gansu provinve April 9, 2008. The monks demanded the return of the Dalai Lama to China and yelling that they had no human rights. (REUTERS)

More at NY Times:

“The Dalai Lama has to come back to Tibet,” one monk said, according to Reuters, which was invited on the tour. “We are not asking for Tibetan independence, we are just asking for human rights. We have no human rights now.”

#7.1

RFA reports on the most recent protests:

2,000 Tibetans Defy Chinese Crackdown as China Admits Shooting

“In the Tsekhog [Zeku] area in Huangnan prefecture, the monks are continuing their peaceful protests as of March 20,” a protester told an Amdo dialect reporter from RFA’s Tibetan service.

“Roughly 2,000 Tibetans, both monks and laypersons, are involved in the protests. The protesters are calling for the Chinese leadership to open a peaceful dialogue with the Dalai Lama and resolve the Tibetan issue peacefully,” the protester said, over the sound of slogans being chanted.

The protesters, who live in a traditionally Tibetan area of Qinghai which is home to large numbers of nomadic herders, were demanding a meaningful autonomous status inclusive of all Tibetan areas, but within the People’s Republic of China, he added.

They were also demanding that the Chinese leadership allow the Dalai Lama to visit the Amdo region, a cry raised during protests in another Sichuan town, Lithang, last summer.

“Right now there are no security forces in the area but we heard that they are coming. We have no freedom inside China,” the protester said. “We are right now protesting in front of the county government offices. We are about 2,000 protesters and we are protesting peacefully.”

Residents of Ngaba (in Chinese, Aba) autonomous prefecture in Sichuan said two monks were shot dead by Chinese armed police after they defied a police cordon set up around the Kirti monastery. Local residents also said a “massacre” had occurred during the clashes around Kirti.

#6.7

Photos from Labrang (Ch. Xiahe) dated 19th March 2008

#6.4

ICT has some eyewitness accounts from foreign tourists in Tibet:

A female tourist from eastern Europe contacted ICT today to report that she had been to Labrang monastery, the scene of large-scale protests by monks and laypeople on March 16, and seen police “beating monks and old women right in front of me — I still cry just thinking about it”. She left the area, traveling towards Machu county town in Qinghai where she then witnessed and photographed the aftermath of protests on March 18 when government and police buildings were attacked and set on fire on March 18. In Machu, she was apprehended by police who confiscated her camera and deleted all of her pictures. However, pictures of the destruction in Machu have since emerged through another source and are circulating widely on the Internet.

She told ICT that she was driven away from Machu in a jeep “to the other side of the province” and kept at a police station for four hours, and that police took copies of her passport. She contacted ICT from Xining, the provincial capital of Qinghai (Amdo) where she said she seemed to be the only foreigner in the city, and that she was closely followed everywhere she went.

#4.4

BREAKING NEWS from Phayul:
Ganja, Songkok and Amchok Nomadic Villages in Labrang Revolt

As this report is being filed (Tuesday March 18/ 1012hrs Beijing Time)there are protests going on in Ganja, a nomadic village 25 kilometres north of Labrang in Amdo. Our source says that around 2000 people are protesting at the government township office with Tibetan flags and portraits of the Dalai Lama.

The protesters are shouting slogans for free Tibet and Dalai Lama’s long life as they march towards the government office.

People of another nomadic village called Songkok located 15 kilometers west of Labrang are also demonstrating against the Chinese government, says our source. According to our source, the angry protesters barged into the government building and started shouting anti-China slogans. Meanwhile, protesters from Amchok nomadic village south of Labrang were trying to march towards Labrang but held by People’s Armed Police midway.

#3.4

#3.3

Must watch video from Xiahe:

Use this link if YouTube is blocked.