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TIBET AT A TURNING POINT: THE SPRING UPRISING AND CHINA’S NEW CRACKDOWN
A Tibetan in Kardze told Radio Free Asia on March 20: “There is no peace in Kardze city.
[…] The families of those who were taken away have no hope of seeing their relatives
alive; they are just waiting for the bodies. However, the families have no regrets and
believe that they have died for a good cause. […] No Tibetan is allowed to move freely
near the main Kardze county center — only the People’s Armed Police (PAP) can go
there. The local county government officials have no authority, and administrative
control has been taken over by the PAP. Local people saw the arrival of 40 new vehicles
and two planes and estimate that close to 10,000 armed police are now here.”
On April 3, many or most of the 350-strong monastic community of Tongkor
monastery (Tongkor township, in Kardze county) led hundreds of local people in a
protest to the local government office. The previous day, a large contingent of soldiers
or armed police had arrived at the monastery, intimidated the monks, and announced
the start of a patriotic education campaign. (This reportedly happened at
other large monasteries in Kardze prefecture that day). The senior monks refused to
cooperate, a search was conducted and two arrests made. The protestors were demanding
the release of these two monks, and calling for Tibet’s independence and
for the Dalai Lama to be allowed to return to Tibet.
Armed police were deployed and shot at the crowd, killing at least eight Tibetans,
whose names are listed on p. 26 of this report. Radio Free Asia’s Cantonese service
was told by a source: “One monk has been killed, and seven Tibetans. Yesterday morning
the police came to some Tibetan houses and asked them not to mourn those
Tibetans who died in earlier clashes, and not to post the Dalai Lama’s pictures. Then
they had a clash with the police. Many people have been beaten up and arrested.”
(Radio Free Asia Tibetan service report, April 4).
Many of the protestors fled into the mountains to evade arrest, and the troops responded
by vandalising and closing down the monastery, and issuing ultimata for
protestors to give themselves up. According to one Tibetan source, in the days to follow,
three monks from one local monastery, Dugu Gonpa, committed suicide, in an act
that may have been in protest against the crackdown and subsequent pressure to denounce
the Dalai Lama. There were also large demonstrations in neighbouring Tawu
county on April 2 and 5. 2
On April 23, two nuns from Dragkar in Kardze town attempted to distribute pamphlets
and were immediately detained. The Dragkar nuns stepped up their campaign,
apparently in response to the re-education campaign being conducted at their
monastery, with protests in Kardze town on May 11 and 12. Two monks from the
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