A major Buddhist monastery in Tibet has reopened after being shut by authorities during riots that rocked the region’s capital in March, staff members said yesterday.
The Drepung Monastery, on the outskirts of Lhasa, reopened to visitors earlier this week and has been “fairly busy” since, said a staff member who gave only his first name, Luobu.
He said the monastery would hold ceremonies today as part of a larger religious festival.
The 15th-century monastery had been closed to the public since March 14, when monk-led protests against Chinese rule turned violent and businesses, shops and vehicles were looted and torched.
China banned foreign visitors and journalists from traveling to Tibet for months after the riots.
China has said 22 people died in the violence, but Tibetan supporters said many times that number were killed in the protests and subsequent military crackdown.
Drepung was one of the three historic Buddhist monasteries in the Tibetan capital where monks commemorated the March 10 anniversary of a failed 1959 uprising against Chinese rule. But after several days of quiet protests, tensions exploded on March 14 and the monasteries were ringed by troops and monks were not allowed to leave.
The Lhasa protests and later sympathy demonstrations that spread across a wide area of western China inhabited by Tibetans posed the most significant challenge to Chinese rule in nearly two decades. In 1989, similar mass demonstrations in Lhasa were also cut down by military force.
China poured tens of thousands of troops into Tibet and surrounding provinces to quash the demonstrations. Its harsh response garnered worldwide criticism, and several world leaders even threatened to boycott the Beijing Olympics.
China repeatedly accused the exiled Dalai Lama and his followers of instigating the unrest and trying to derail the Games.
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