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 A new report from Human Rights Watch has confirmed many of Tibetans’ worst fears over the extent and brutality of China’s response to the 2008 Tibet protests. Titled “I Saw It with My Own Eyes: Abuses By Chinese Security Forces in Tibet, 2008-2010”, the 73-page report details a harrowing range of abuses committed by security forces, beginning with disproportionate force in breaking up protests and continuing with arbitrary arrests and the brutalizing of detainees.
Based on more than 200 eyewitness accounts and previously unreported official Chinese sources, it is the most comprehensive independent analysis to date of the events that unfolded during and after the protests.
Download the full Human Rights Watch report
The Central Tibetan Administration (CTA), in a separate report, claims that families are still searching for relatives arrested during a peaceful protest in Lhasa on 11 March 2008 and a subsequent raid of over 100 homes in Tibet’s capital. The report lists 28 Tibetans whose fate remains unknown, despite the efforts of their family members to determine their whereabouts and wellbeing (See Families still searching for their relatives arrested in 2008 Tibet protest).
 Also this week, the CTA commented on the dramatic reduction in the number of Tibetans reaching Dharamsala from Tibet. Thupten Samphel, a spokesperson for the CTA, put the trend down to increased Chinese surveillance at the China/Nepal border and increased cooperation from Nepal, which relies heavily on China for aid. The International Campaign for Tibet (ICT) has claimed that three Tibetan refugees were returned to Chinese border police by Nepali authorities in early June - the first confirmed cases Tibetan refugees being forcibly returned from Nepal since May 2003.
Mr. Samphel claims that Tibetans continue to live under conditions of Chinese martial law. A detailed article in The New York Times this week described the systemic economic disadvantage that is depriving Tibetans of their identity, culture and livelihoods (See China’s Money and Migrants Pour Into Tibet).
ICT claims “Nepal has violated the well-established ‘Gentlemen’s Agreement’ with the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) and contravened its obligations under international law”. According to Mingyur Youdon, Deputy Director of Dharamsala’s Reception Centre for New Arrivals from Tibet, up until March 2008 around 2,500 to 3,000 Tibetan refugees would arrive in Dharamsala each year. Only about 1,000 in total have arrived since that time.
“I Saw It with My Own Eyes”: Extracts Of Testimonies
Wu Shuangzhan, Commander of the People’s Armed Police, 16 March 2008:
“None of the means … adopted there have exceeded the constitutional rights of the armed forces or international law.”
Pema Lhakyi, a 24-year-old Lhasa resident:
“They were firing straight at people. They were coming from the direction of Jiangsu Lu firing at any Tibetans they saw, and many people had been killed.”
Qiangba Puncog, TAR Government Chairman, 17 March 2008:
“Our public security officers and armed policemen showed great restraint and
performed their duty in accordance with the law and in a civilized manner.
None of them carried or used any lethal weapon in the process.”
A Lhasa resident describes an incident on 17 March 2008:
“The monk, Tsondru, was thrown from the upper storey of the Neighborhood Committee’s building at the time of his arrest. He died from his injuries in the police vehicle on the way to the detention center.”
A 22-year-old monk who witnessed one of the many incidents in Aba (a Tibetan autonomous area in Sichuan):
“Everyone scattered when they started firing. I went into hiding immediately - a relative who works in the police department warned my father that I had been filmed participating in the protest. I hid in the mountains for five [to] six months.”
A 27-year-old monk recalls a protest in Tongren township:
“About three hours after we started the protest, around 8pm, it was getting dark and we approached the building shouting slogans. Suddenly hundreds of soldiers appeared from behind the building toward us. We were just shouting slogans. No one threw stones or carried [weapons like] knives or sticks. We were just having a peaceful demonstration. Then I heard repeated gunfire and protestors started to flee. Some people behind me said it was firecrackers. I was in front. I looked at the soldiers and saw they were shooting into the crowd. There was absolute chaos as the crowd scattered. In a few minutes, some people had been shot dead and many more injured. I saw some people lying on the ground and some being carried by friends. Soldiers arrested all those who were left behind or could not run away.”
Jigme Gyatso, a senior monk from Labrang monastery, September 2008:
“We endured such torture. Now our main hope is that the international media and the United Nations’ investigators come to Tibet and check on the real situation and then report on it after they assess their findings. This is our main hope.”
A monk from Drepung describes how security forces swept his monastery at 2am on 11 April 2008:
“They burst in, breaking the doors and gates of the colleges and dormitories. The soldiers were armed and equipped with hatchets and hammers, as well as torches, handcuffs and wire ropes. On entering monks’ rooms they would first ask for phones, which were systematically confiscated. Then they would meticulously search the room, and if they found CDs of His Holiness [the Dalai Lama] or Tibetan flags they would arrest the monk. They were also searching for the people who were in photos taken at the protest on March 10. Some of the arrested monks were handcuffed; others tied up with wire ropes. Some officials told us we were going to be taken to “study law”. They ordered us to move very fast, and if we didn’t, they’d hit us. Several hundred monks were taken away. They took us to Nyethang [Ch. Nietang] township south-west of Lhasa for the re-education.”
A monk describes a similar raid on Tongkor monastery, Sichuan on 3 April 2008, in which security forces threatened monks at gunpoint and ransacked rooms as they searched for evidence of allegiance to the Dalai Lama:
“On April 3, at about 4:30am, I was woken by loud noises. I looked out of my room to find out what was going on. I saw that the monastery was surrounded by hundreds of Chinese soldiers. A Tibetan interpreter was saying in a loud voice, “Any monk who comes out of their room will get killed. Stay where you are and do not lock your door because the army wants to search all rooms in the monastery.” It was still dark outside and there was no one going out. I share my room with my cousin. I had a few photos of the Dalai Lama and hid them, but I could not find any place to hide the big framed photo hanging on the wall. At about 5am, soldiers entered our courtyard and a Tibetan interpreter shouted, ‘Open the door’ in Tibetan.”
Related articles
The Australian: 22 July 2010 “Chinese beat and shot dead protesters during 2008 Tibet unrest”, says Human Rights Watch
Central Tibetan Administration: 22 July 2010 Families still searching for their relatives arrested in 2008 Tibet protest
Australia Network News: 25 July 2010 “China Blocks Tibetan Refugees, Say Exiles”
Straits Times” 25 July 2010 “Fewer Fleeing to Dalai Lama”
New York Times: 24 July 2010 “China’s Money and Migrants Pour Into Tibet” |
