Dharamsala, Feb. 4 – Police in Lhasa have arrested dozens of Tibetans suspected of supporting a campaign against celebrating the Tibetan New Year, reported the Times online.
Witnesses told The Times that uniformed and plainclothes police and members of the paramilitary People’s Armed Police raided tea houses, which are popular with young Tibetans, and picked up people of all ages in the street.
Many of those detained were accused of “spreading rumours”, sources in the Tibetan capital said.
The sweep, according to the Times online, appeared to have begun in the city around the Ramoche temple where peaceful demonstrations erupted into violence on March 14 last year.
Tibetans are campaigning against celebration of the New Year, or Losar, falling on February 25, saying that three days of the New Year should be observed in mourning of the victims of last year’s military crackdown in Tibet. Appeals against the losar have been posted on the Internet and text messages are being circulated.
One text message says: “To mourn those Tibetans who died in 2008, those many heroes who gave their lives, to show sympathy for all Tibetans, we should have no New Year and join hands to show our solidarity.”
In Lhasa, government employees have been ordered by the authorities to provide guarantees that they will report to work every day, stay in their offices and not take part in any disturbances. They have been told to make sure that their family members comply and have been warned that those who disobey will be severely punished, sources in Lhasa told the Times online.
“Lhasa hasn’t been this tense since the arrests in March and April last year,” the Times online quoted a source.
China is gearing up its security in the restive Tibetan plateau ahead of the region’s most politically sensitive anniversaries in years, with state media saying at least 81 people have been detained just last week in the Tibetan capital under “Strike Hard” campaign that began on Jan. 18.
