Chinese police carry out checks on 6,000 in Tibet

Wednesday, January 28, 2009

TimesOnline
Jane Macartney in Beijing
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File Photo: China has launched a clampdown in the Tibetan capital of Lhasa ahead of the anniversary of the 1959 Tibetan uprising.

Police have carried out checks on nearly 6,000 people in the Tibetan capital, Lhasa, in their latest Strike Hard campaign, arresting two who were found to have downloaded reactionary songs – probably praising the Dalai Lama – onto their mobile phones.

China has from time to time launched “Strike Hard” campaigns across the country, rounding up thousands, jailing many and accelerating the number of executions to serve as a deterrent against increases in crime.

The latest drive in the capital of the Himalayan region of Tibet appears intended to intimidate the local population before the 50th anniversary on March 10 of the flight of the Dalai Lama into exile and to prevent a repeat of the riot on March 14 last year when 18 people were killed as Tibetans rampaged through the city, burning and looting.

The Lhasa Evening News reported that the latest checks began on January 18 when the entire investigative police began a citywide sweep. By dawn on January 21 they had mobilised 600 people with 160 vehicles and checked seven large city blocks, 2,922 rented accommodations, 14 hotels and guest-houses, 18 bars and three Internet cafes. They had checked 5,766 people.

The police focus was on places where the floating population gathered, particularly rented accommodation and “places of filth and iniquity”, the newspaper said. IN total, they detained 66 people suspected of theft, burglary, prostitution.

On the first day, the police detained two people “who had reactionary opinions and reactionary songs on their cell phones”, the newspaper said. It did not specify what constituted a “reactionary” opinion, but the word is generally used to denote an idea that fails to conform with state-approved communist ideology. In this case it is possible that the pair had voiced support for the exiled Dalai Lama and had songs that to the Buddhist monk.

Pictures of the Dalai Lama are banned, officials often vilify him in speeches, state media routinely issue attacks against the “Dalai Lama clique” and campaigns are carried out frequently in Tibet requiring people to denounce him.

Last month, authorities in Lhasa detained several people who had downloaded such songs from the Internet and sold them on compact discs and in MP3 format in markets. It was not the first time that music has infuriated officials in Lhasa; Tibetan music blares out from shops across the old city, which is mainly inhabited by ethnic Tibetans, and people flock to music halls to hear their favourite folk singers.

A couple of years ago a song in praise of the Dalai Lama’s younger sister, Gzunpelma, became a huge hit in Lhasa with pirated CDs on sale across the city. At first the tune, with lyrics such as “You are our mother, you build our future”, escaped the notice of the authorities and the tune could be heard on every street corner and in every home. When the authorities became aware of the words, the song was banned and one person was arrested for selling the CD.

Many songs in Tibet praise the Dalai Lama, even though his picture is banned in the region and he has been the target of a fierce vilification campaign. Often he is referred to in song as the “great treasure” — a reference that all Tibetans understandends