Bystanders intervened and helped the injured Photo: tibettimes
Two Tibetans who were travelling in a private car have been attacked without provocation at a police roadside checkpoint in central Tibet, reports UK based Tibet advocacy group Tibet Watch. One, Rigdrak, insisted he was not carrying anything illegal and asked the police to show an investigation warrant, he was subsequently pushed from the road into the Yangtse River and is missing, presumed dead. His friend, Sherab Gyaltso, who tried to intervene, was shot.
Ringdrak and Sherab Gyaltso were travelling in Sherab Gyaltso’s car from Kyegudo to Domda Township in Kyegudo in the Yushul Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture, accompanied by a third friend, Gurkyab.
All travellers were being stopped at the checkpoint and their vehicles investigated. When the police, who were not in uniform, checked Sherab Gyaltso’s car, Rigdrak asked the officers to produce their police identity card and details of their police office. The police responded by pushing him off the road; he fell down to the Yangtze River below. Sherab Gyaltso confronted the police, who shot him. Onlookers took photographs of the incident.
Bystanders gather at the scene of the police violence
Photo: Tibet Watch
Bystanders intervened and took the injured Sherab Gyaltso to a local hospital for emergency treatment. Despite a search by onlookers and local people, Rigdrak was not found and it is believed that he must have drowned.
The car belonging to the police did not carry registration number plates. The police did not produce any official police ID or warrant papers.
Rigdrak, who was in his 50s, hails from Shikog Village in Zhendu County, he is survived by two daughters and his wife. Sherab Gyaltso, 26, from Dharmer Village in Domda Township has five family members. His father’s name is Karma and his mother’s name is Lhatsi.
Police car without registration number plate
Photo: Tibet Watch
Tibet Watch reports that over the past two to three months, the authorities in Kham [Ch: Qinghai] Province have established numerous checkpoints, installed CCTV cameras and deployed large numbers of security personnel, including armed forces, in Tibetan areas. Citing preventive measures for a second wave of COVID-19, and maintaining public safety and stability, local Tibetans and Tibetan travellers are randomly searched, and their cars, mobiles and belongings checked.
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