Police fired on hundreds of protesters in a Tibetan area of western China, killing eight people, several overseas activist groups said. State media reported one government official was seriously injured in what it called a “riot.”
Two monks also committed suicide late last month because of government oppression, another Tibetan activist group said yesterday.
In Dharamsala, the Tibetan government-in-exile said over the weekend that the Dalai Lama could attend the Beijing Olympics if China invites him but on the condition that it relaxes its suppression in Tibet.
Reports of the killings indicate that unrest is continuing in China’s Tibetan areas despite a massive security presence in place since violent anti-government demonstrations broke out in the middle of last month in Tibet’s capital, Lhasa, and neighboring provinces.
Police fired on Buddhist monks and ordinary citizens who had marched on local government offices in Garze Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture in Sichuan Province near Tibet on Thursday, the London-based Free Tibet Campaign and the International Campaign for Tibet said.
The protesters were demanding the release of two monks who were detained after paramilitary troops searched their monastery and found photographs of the Dalai Lama, Tibet’s exiled Buddhist leader, the groups said.
The US government-funded Radio Free Asia said it had unconfirmed reports that up to 15 people were killed and dozens injured in the violence.
Calls to local police and hospitals in the area were unanswered yesterday or were answered by officials who said they had no information.
Xinhua news agency had no information on deaths or injuries but confirmed that a riot broke out near government offices in Donggu Town in Garze.
An official was “attacked and seriously wounded,” and police were “forced to fire warning shots and put down the violence,” Xinhua said.
Thursday’s incident in Garze was sparked when the government attempted to enforce “patriotic education” at a monastery, activist groups said.
The chief monk had refused to let a government team enter, and the team returned on Thursday with about 3,000 paramilitary troops.
The Tibetan Center for Human Rights and Democracy, based in India, said yesterday that two monks committed suicide last month in Sichuan’s Aba County following government oppression. Aba County has been the scene of large protests involving hundreds of monks and citizens.
One monk, identified as Lobsang Jinpa, from the Aba Kirti Monastery, killed himself on March 27, leaving a signed note saying “I do not want to live under Chinese oppression even for a minute,” the human-rights group said.
The second suicide occurred on March 30 at the Aba Gomang Monastery, when a 75-year-old monk named Legtsok took his life, telling his followers he “can’t beat the oppression anymore,” the group said.
It was impossible to verify the information since Chinese authorities have banned foreign reporters from traveling to the region.
Tibetan Prime Minister Samdhong Rinpoche said in an interview with Deutsche Presse-Agentur in Dharamsala that the Dalai Lama could attend the Olympics if China relaxes its suppression in Tibet.”
“China must release all prisoners in Tibet and treat the injured. Otherwise, if the Dalai Lama goes to Beijing to watch the opening of the Beijing Olympics, how would Tibetans feel?” Rinpoche said.
ROLLER-COASTER RIDE: More than five earthquakes ranging from magnitude 4.4 to 5.5 on the Richter scale shook eastern Taiwan in rapid succession yesterday afternoon Back-to-back weather fronts are forecast to hit Taiwan this week, resulting in rain across the nation in the coming days, the Central Weather Administration said yesterday, as it also warned residents in mountainous regions to be wary of landslides and rockfalls. As the first front approached, sporadic rainfall began in central and northern parts of Taiwan yesterday, the agency said, adding that rain is forecast to intensify in those regions today, while brief showers would also affect other parts of the nation. A second weather system is forecast to arrive on Thursday, bringing additional rain to the whole nation until Sunday, it
LANDSLIDES POSSIBLE: The agency advised the public to avoid visiting mountainous regions due to more expected aftershocks and rainfall from a series of weather fronts A series of earthquakes over the past few days were likely aftershocks of the April 3 earthquake in Hualien County, with further aftershocks to be expected for up to a year, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. Based on the nation’s experience after the quake on Sept. 21, 1999, more aftershocks are possible over the next six months to a year, the agency said. A total of 103 earthquakes of magnitude 4 on the local magnitude scale or higher hit Hualien County from 5:08pm on Monday to 10:27am yesterday, with 27 of them exceeding magnitude 5. They included two, of magnitude
CONDITIONAL: The PRC imposes secret requirements that the funding it provides cannot be spent in states with diplomatic relations with Taiwan, Emma Reilly said China has been bribing UN officials to obtain “special benefits” and to block funding from countries that have diplomatic ties with Taiwan, a former UN employee told the British House of Commons on Tuesday. At a House of Commons Foreign Affairs Committee hearing into “international relations within the multilateral system,” former Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) employee Emma Reilly said in a written statement that “Beijing paid bribes to the two successive Presidents of the [UN] General Assembly” during the two-year negotiation of the Sustainable Development Goals. Another way China exercises influence within the UN Secretariat is
Taiwan’s first drag queen to compete on the internationally acclaimed RuPaul’s Drag Race, Nymphia Wind (妮妃雅), was on Friday crowned the “Next Drag Superstar.” Dressed in a sparkling banana dress, Nymphia Wind swept onto the stage for the final, and stole the show. “Taiwan this is for you,” she said right after show host RuPaul announced her as the winner. “To those who feel like they don’t belong, just remember to live fearlessly and to live their truth,” she said on stage. One of the frontrunners for the past 15 episodes, the 28-year-old breezed through to the final after weeks of showcasing her unique