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Tibetan Exiles, Chinese Authorities Give Conflicting Reports on Unrest in China

by Rob Walker | April 30, 2008 at 01:53 pm | 184 views | add comment

A day after China sentenced 30 protesters involved in both peaceful and violent protests, the Tibetan exiles and Chinese Government have both released separate reports detailing the incident, which left a country police chief and ringleader of a riot dead.

The Indian-based Tibetan Center for Human Rights and Democracy says the Chinese gov moved soldiers in and arrested hundreds of Tibetans. Chinese state media denies these claims.

Tibetan exiles and Chinese authorities have released separate details of recent violence in a Tibetan community in the western Chinese province of Qinghai.
The Indian-based Tibetan Center for Human Rights and Democracy and Chinese state media reported on violence in Darlag (Chinese: Dari) County.

China's official Xinhua news agency says the county police chief, a Tibetan, was shot dead Monday while pursuing the ringleader of a local riot that happened last month. Xinhua says the alleged ringleader was killed when police returned fire.

The Tibetan Center for Human Rights and Democracy says a Tibetan nomad was shot by security forces Monday. The center says Chinese authorities responded to last month's protests by dispatching troops to the area and arresting hundreds of Tibetans.

A gun battle in a rural area of northwest China earlier this week left a policeman and Tibetan insurgent dead, according to state-run media.

It was China’s first official admission that any Tibetans have died in the anti-government unrest that began in mid-March.

The incident, according to the Xinhua news agency, occurred in Qinghai Province after the police tried to arrest a man who they say led a group of herders seeking to incite a riot a week after the March 14 disturbances that shook Lhasa, the capital of the Tibet Autonomous Region.

China has stepped up persecution of Buddhist monks with mass detentions, Tibet activists said Wednesday, as China prepares to take the Olympic torch to the top of Mount Everest.

The actions came a day after six monks were given lengthy prison sentences in the first trial of rioters since deadly violence in Tibet's capital last month.

The International Campaign for Tibet said groups of Buddhist monks have been detained from several Lhasa monasteries, which have been sealed off by armed troops.

The Washington, D.C.-based group cited sources who reported that authorities removed at least six monks from the Nechung monastery, eight from Nalanda monastery and rounded up at least 60 people, including monks from Pangsa monastery, after a protest near Lhasa.