By Phuntsok Yangchen
DHARAMSHALA, May 1: Several Tibetans have been injured after Chinese police beat them up for protesting government’s forced construction of road towards a mountain considered sacred by the local Tibetans.
Tibetan in Awong village, Gonjo County in Chamdo had protested last year against Chinese government’s mining project near the Mount Minee, which is considered sacred by them. The Tibetans managed to stop the project.
The authorities approached the local Tibetans on April 2 with a plan to build shower houses by damming the natural geyser water near the mountain. The Tibetans agreed to allow the project as they were told that the money generated from the hotspring will be given to the local residents. However, the villagers protested on seeing the preparations being made by the authorities to build a road to Mount Minee.
According to Tashi, a Tibetan living in exile, Tibetan village leaders immediately protested the construction of road saying they won’t let anyone touch their sacred mountain. They even rejected the proposal of income from the hotspring bathing facility.
Chinese authorities arrested the Tibetan village representatives leading to protests by local Tibetans, and a clash between the local Tibetans and Chinese armed forces. Several Tibetans received severe injuries in the skirmishes. The Chinese authorities went ahead with the construction works.
The injured had to be taken to private hospital after they were refused treatment at government hospital.
A few Tibetan businessmen from Gonjo living in Lhasa were also arrested after they visited the Chamdo Liaison office in Lhasa with an appeal to stop the construction near mount Minee. The Tibetans also warned the authorities that they will appeal the central government if the construction of road is not immediately stopped.
Last month, Tibetan villagers in Gengya Township in Sangchu County, Kanlho Autonomous Prefecture had also protested against the construction of a highway into nomadic grazing areas. Tibetans in the area sat in front of the construction equipment demanding to end the construction that could affect the hundreds of local Tibetans.
