Tibetan Headlines
Sep 24: Laureates Boycott Summit
Four Nobel Peace Laureates have announced that they will boycott the Nobel Peace Summit in South Africa next month. The Tibetan National Congress has sent over 6000 signatures to individual Nobel laureates urging them to boycott the Summit unless His Holiness the Dalai Lama is issued with a visa to enter South Africa to enable him to attend.
Sep 24: Footballers of the Future
A five-a-side football tournament for under tens was held at TCV Day School in Mcleod Ganj to commemorate World Peace Day. The tournament was first of its kind in Mcleod Ganj and saw boys and girls teams from four schools competing against each other for two days. TCV Gopalpur were the winners.
Sep 23: Detention Centre Expands
Chinese authorities are enlarging a police detention center in Tibet’s restive Driru county in anticipation of more detentions as residents resist forced displays of loyalty to Beijing. “The authorities are saying that this will be a major prison for those who conduct activities against the [Chinese] government and its policies,” a local resident told Radio Free Asia, speaking on condition of anonymity.
Sep 20: Appeal to HRC
The Tibetan Centre for Human Rights and Democracy (TCHRD) has raised the issue of deteriorating human rights in Tibet at the 27th session of the Human Rights Council (HRC) in Geneva, Switzerland. TCHRD Director Tsering Tsomo, speaking for the Society for Threatened Peoples, called for the HRC to intervene. TCHRD noted that China has 13 outstanding requests from the HRC Special Procedures.
Sep 20: Arrested for Messaging
Jamyang Wangtso, 32, and Namgyal Wangchuk, 43, both monks from Wuran Village have been sentenced to five and seven years in prison for “picking quarrels and provoking trouble”. They shared pictures and texts on WeChat, the China based messaging application, of people wearing fur Chupas (Traditional Tibetan dress), captioned “Good environment needs...wild animals...Please care for them with compassion, don’t kill them brutally for meat and fur.”
Sep 19: Activist Thwarted
Tenzin Tsundue, the well-known Tibetan activist and writer has been caught hiding in the Sabarmati Ashram in Ahmedabad where Chinese President Xi Jinping was due to visit later in the day. Tsundue entered the ashram as a visitor on Wednesday and hid there, but police found him before Xi's visit and have detained him to prevent him staging a protest. He has staged spectacular anti-Chinese protests in the past.
Sep 19: 10-Year Sentence
Lobsang Gedun, 21, has been sentenced to ten years in prison for shouting the slogans "Tibet is an independent country" and "Long live His Holiness the Dalai Lama." From Drongsar Monastery in Dhakshang village, he has been held in a detention centre in Chamdho, in the Kham region of eastern Tibet for more than a year. He was beaten and tortured in custody.
Sep 18: Xi Jinping in India
Around 60 Tibetan students have been detained by the Gujarat police as a preemptive measure ahead of Chinese president Xi Jinping's arrival in Ahmedabad, while in Delhi, 11 Tibetan Youth Congress activists were arrested while protesting in front of the Chinese Embassy. A demonstration was held at the Tibetan Colony in Delhi, Majnu Ka Tilla, where hundreds of police were deployed and the area cordoned off.
Sep 17: Centenary Celebration
Tibetan artist Amdo Jampa, also known as Jampa Tseten, has been the inspiration for a celebration in Lhasa. Jampa was born in Chentsa, Qinghai Province in 1914 and was the first Tibetan artist to study at a Chinese art college. His was renowned for his thangka paintings and for his photo-realistic style, as well as his portraits of the Dalai Lama and the Panchen Lama.
Sep 16: SFT Protest
Tibetan and Indian members of Students for a Free Tibet-India demonstrated in front of India Gate in Delhi, displaying a banner reading "Tibet’s Independence, India’s Security", together with the Indian and Tibetan national flags. The action was aimed at Chinese President Xi Jinping’s forthcoming visit to India. SFT-India also submitted a 4,000-signature petition to the Indian Prime Minister urging him to talk about the crisis in Tibet with Xi Jinping.
Sep 15: Spreading the Word
Tenzin Tsundue, the Tibetan activist, writer and poet, is visiting major Indian towns and cities on a month-long speaking tour. He is speaking at Indian colleges and universities as well as Tibetan schools and monasteries in the settlement areas, speaking on Tibet’s current situation, India-Tibet relations and youth related issues, and giving workshops. He has visited Calcutta, Gawhati, Bangalore, Chennai, Hyderabad, Vijaywada, Kollegal, Amchi Mumbai, Pune, and Delhi.
Sep 13: Villagers Beaten
Dozens of Tibetan villagers were detained and beaten in northwestern China’s Qinghai province last month. The police intervened in violent clashes over grazing rights between two village groups in Rebgong county in the Malho in the Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture. The assault left many badly hurt, none of the injured received medical treatment, and restrictions on the movements of Tibetans make it access to medical aid difficult.
Sep 13: Live Webcast
The Tibetan Parliament-in-Exile is broadcasting its current session at tibetonline.tv. The live webcast can be viewed between 9.30am and 5pm (Indian Standard Time). This is the 8th session of the 15th Tibetan Parliament-in-Exile and runs from 12 – 24 September, and kicked off by urging Chinese President Xi Jinping who is due to visit India shortly, to resolve the Tibet issue through the mutually beneficial Middle-Way Approach.
Sep 12: Activist Manhandled
Migmar Dolma, a Tibetan Youth Association Europe activist who was peacefully demonstrating outside the Chinese Embassy in Basel, Switzerland, has been manhandled by Chinese embassy staff and pushed to the ground. Dolma was protesting against the Confucius Institute at Basel University, and against Chinese propaganda in Switzerland. She has filed a case against the embassy staff on charges of coercion, assault and vandalising personal property.
Sep 12: Close to Death
Another of the protesters from Denma, who were detained after being shot at by police, is reported to be close to death after being severely beaten by police. She is Dawa Lhamo, 64, and was hospitalised after being beaten a month ago. She has reportedly been sent home and is now receiving the religious initiations given to people with little chance of surviving.