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March 22, 2009

China Detains Almost 100 Tibetan Monks After Riot at Police Station
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Xinhua says the monks were among rioters who assaulted police and
government workers 
China's official Xinhua news agency says police have detained almost 100
ethnic Tibetan monks who attacked a police station in northwestern
China. Carrying a portrait of the Dalai Lama, Tibetan supporters march
the streets of Taipei, in protest of the Chinese rule in Tibet
(File)Xinhua says the monks were among hundreds of rioters who assaulted
police and government workers at the police building Saturday, injuring
some officials. It says the riot happened in the town of Ragya in the
Golog Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture of Qinghai province. The Chinese
news agency says police later caught six of the rioters and detained
another 89 who turned themselves in. It says all but two of those
arrested are monks from a local monastery. Western news agencies quote a
resident of Ragya and a Tibetan exile who lived there as saying the
protesters were angry about the apparent suicide of a monk. Xinhua says
the monk escaped from a prison earlier Saturday and jumped into the
Yellow River before!
  disappearing. Chinese authorities had arrested him on suspicion of
promoting Tibetan independence. India-based Tibetan news agencies say
the monk, Tashi Sangpo, had raised the banned Tibetan national flag over
his monastery on March 10. The date marked the 50th anniversary of the
start of a failed Tibetan uprising against Chinese rule. The reports say
Chinese security forces seized the monastery after the incident and
claimed to find a Tibetan flag and political leaflets in Tashi's room.
Saturday's protest in Qinghai was one of the most serious outbreaks of
unrest in Tibetan-dominated regions of China this year. Beijing has
tightened security in Tibet and neighboring Tibetan regions in recent
weeks to prevent commemorations of the 1959 Tibetan uprising. It is
difficult to independently verify accounts of protests and arrests in
Tibet and neighboring Tibetan regions because China has barred foreign
media from the areas. Some information for this report was provided by
AFP, !
 AP and Reuters.

 


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