Hundreds held in pre-emptive Tibet crackdown

Wednesday, March 10, 2010

Times Online
By Jane Macartney in Beijing
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Troops march through Lhasa in a show of strength by the Chinese authorities (Times Online Photo)

Hundreds of Tibetans have been rounded up in Lhasa and armed paramilitaries are patrolling the streets in the run-up to the anniversary of a bloody riot in 2008.

The authorities are anxious to avoid a repeat of the anti-Chinese attacks that left about 20 people dead when Tibetans rampaged through the streets of the Himalayan city setting fire to shops, offices and banks.

March 10 is regarded by Tibetans as the anniversary of the start of an abortive uprising against Chinese rule in 1959 that resulted in the Dalai Lama’s flight into exile in India.

The armed police patrols that have become routine in the Tibetan heart of Lhasa since the anti-Beijing unrest that spilled over into violence in March 14, 2008, have been expanded to include cavalcades of trucks packed with paramilitaries.

One convoy comprised 14 trucks, each containing 14 helmeted men armed with semi-automatic rifles as well as two officers and a driver. The trucks drove slowly through the streets of the city in a show of force clearly intended to intimidate any Tibetans planning to mark the anniversary with renewed protests against Chinese rule.

Patrols of special police – the Chinese equivalent of Swat teams – also roamed the streets. Their distinctive black trucks and armoured vehicles then proceeded towards the Drepung monastery on the edge of the city where the unrest began on March 10, 2008 with a peaceful march by monks towards the city.

In the narrow alleys around the Jokhang temple, the holiest site in Tibetan Buddhism, in central Lhasa, additional police patrols were checking the identity cards of all Tibetans. Members of the ethnic Han Chinese majority were not stopped for identity checks.

Residents said that as many as 500 people were believed to have been detained in the crackdown. That number could not be confirmed and officials declined to comment.

Tibetans were being required to show three documents: their identity card, a temporary residence permit and a letter of introduction allowing them to be in Lhasa. Those lacking the proper paperwork were either detained or sent back to their homes outside Lhasa.

State-run Lhasa Television was running details on an evening show of a new “strike hard” campaign ostensibly directed against drugs, criminals and those lacking the proper papers permitting them to visit Lhasa.

In government offices, and even in schools, everyone is under orders to attend work and to bring their identity card and work permit. Higher-ranking officials are required to remain on duty round the clock.

Tibet was closed to foreign visitors from yesterday and there is a moratorium on the issue of the travel permits that are required by all non-Chinese wanting to visit the area.

Notices have been issued to hotels and families throughout the city banning them from allowing lamas from Tibet’s many monasteries to stay the night.

The riot in 2008 followed several days of small-scale demonstrations by monks who either made their way to the Jokhang temple to shout slogans demanding Tibetan independence or who gathered in their monasteries to demand the return of the exiled Dalai Lama.

Some Tibetans joked this week about the division of the city into ethnic Han-inhabited districts and a Tibetan section. The old Tibetan part of the city has been dubbed “ Baghdad” while the Han Chinese area has been nicknamed “the concession” – after the sectors in cities such as Shanghai and Tianjin where “foreign concessions” were under the rule of colonial powers such as Britain, France and Germany.

The Dalai Lama issued a statement to commemorate the 1959 uprising.

He said: “I pay homage to those heroic Tibetan men and women who sacrificed their lives for the cause of Tibet, and pray for an early end to the sufferings of those still oppressed in Tibet.

“Despite the great hardships Tibetans have faced for many decades, they have been able to keep up their courage and determination, preserve their compassionate culture and maintain their unique identity.

"It is inspiring that today a new generation of Tibetans continues to keep Tibet's just cause alive. I salute the courage of those Tibetans still enduring fear and oppression.”