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INTERNATIONAL CAMPAIGN FOR TIBET
PEACEFUL PROTESTS
AND THE RIOT OF 3/14 IN LHASA
“ I can honestly tell you that none of the means we have adopted [in Tibet] have exceeded
the constitutional rights of the armed forces or international law. […] I can also very
clearly assure you that not a single person has exceeded their mandate.”
— Wu Shuangzhan, Commander of the People’s Armed Police,
quoted by Reuters on March 16, 2008
ON MARCH 10, the anniversary of the 1959 uprising, up to 300 Drepung monks
staged a protest march towards the city center. The nature of the protest is still
unclear, although it is known to have involved expressions of support for
the Dalai Lama, like virtually all of the protests across the plateau since March. Some
sources stated that the Drepung monks were seeking the release of fellow monks detained
on political charges the previous October, linked to their attempt to celebrate
the honoring of the Dalai Lama with the Congressional Gold Medal. ICT does not
have a record of Drepung monks detained at this time so cannot confirm that this is
the case. The monks do not appear to have been calling for independence, according
to Tibetan sources, but certainly their frustration with hardline policies towards religion,
in particular the ‘patriotic education’ campaign, was evident. Drepung monks
had suffered from more stringent restrictions than normal since their attempts to celebrate
the honor to the Dalai Lama; pictures obtained by ICT of the aftermath of the
celebrations show rows of military vehicles outside the monastery. 1
On March 10, the monks were blocked at the main road by security forces, where
many of them staged a sit-in protest. A Tibetan woman from Lhasa told ICT: “They recited
prayers including Galwai Shabten (Long Life offering for His Holiness the Dalai
Lama) and Tsemey Yonten (a prayer offering for the benefit of Tibet, composed by
His Holiness the Dalai Lama in early 1960s). Many monks were crying out of sadness
and people who happened to be there were crying as well.” After a standoff, dozens
were arrested and the rest obliged to return to the monastery. The armed police on the
scene were clearly under orders to use restraint.
The monks were not shot on sight, as monks carrying the Tibetan flag had been in the
late 1980s. London-based journalist Jonathan Mirsky recounts such an incident: “I
have seen, in the late Eighties, an army officer, in the square opposite the Jokhang,
shoot dead a monk carrying the Snow Lion flag at the head of a small march of monks
chanting praises of the Dalai Lama.” 2 At first it seemed that initial toleration of the sit-
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