Dharamsala, March 18 – Chinese Public Security Bureau have detained four Tibetans who undertook a protest demonstration last Saturday in Karze County in Karze Tibet Autonomous Prefecture, the Tibetan exile government said on its website, citing sources.
The four, who were identified as Namsel Dorjee, 28; Karma Norbu, 17; Rinchen Wangsel, 16; and Sangye Tsering, 17, were residents of Susada Gechung village in Thingkha town in Karze.
The four youths shouted “independence for Tibet” during the protest that was immediately quelled by the security forces, sources said.
Sources also said that the authorities did not allow relatives to offer food and clothes at the new PSB detention center close to the Kardze people’s hospital.
The father of one of the detainees, Karma Norbu, is serving a prison term for his role in a protest last year and said to be in very poor health. His two sons – Sangpo and Dorjee – are also serving three-year prison term for expressing “their resentment against the wrong policies of the Chinese government”, according to the Tibetan government’s website.
Elsewhere, six young monks of Ngagrong Tashi Choephel Monastery in Chentsa were reportedly detained for taking part in a deity invoking ritual (Lhasoel) on March 10 to mark the 50th Tibetan national uprising day.
As this report goes online, reports come in of more protests in Tibet in the past three days though details are unavailable due to strict restriction on flow of information from Tibet.
Some youths from nearby villages of Nyenmo Deva and Lu Gyal Deva were reportedly arrested on the same day for performing the ritual but more details were unavailable, sources said.
The exile Tibetan government says the the clampdown on Tibetans by China since March last year has left more than 220 Tibetans dead and 1,294 injured. More than 5,600 people are still under arrest or detention and more than 1,000 are reportedly missing, it said.
