Tibetans in China’s Sichuan province attempt to commemorate the Dalai Lama’s birthday on July 6, 2013.
Photo: voatibetanenglish.com
Tibetans Shot at Prayer Service for Dalai Lama’s Birthday
On July 6, 2013, and despite severe restrictions, many Tibetans in Tibet marked the 78th birthday of His Holiness the Dalai Lama. Birthday celebrations were reported in various Tibetan areas such as Tawu, Kardze and Drakgo region of Kham in Tibet, and Golok, Tawo, Labrang, Chabcha, and Kumbum in Amdo region of Tibet. In Chabcha and Kumbum provinces, and others, people quietly “marked the Dalai Lama’s birthday in their homes, wary that any public celebration could endanger a tentative softening by Chinese authorities”, wrote Sui-Lee Wee on Reuters.
Monk Tashi Sonam was shot in his head; receives treatment in a hospital in Dartsedo
Photo: tibet.net
Hundreds of Tibetans, including laypeople, monks from Nyitso monastery and nuns from Geden Choeling nunnery, gathered in the early morning of July 6 to hold a prayer service and incense offering ceremony on a sacred hill in Tawu, in Kardze county. Vehicle loads of armed police arrived at the scene and attempted to stop the celebration. Some Tibetans present at the scene questioned the police about the legality of their actions, saying that burning incense was not a crime. Police opened fire without warning on the unarmed crowd and used teargas, according to several Tibetan sources. At least ten Tibetans have sustained serious gunshot wounds and are in a critical condition, and many more were injured.
Graphic images received by the Tibetan exile community show a monk, identified as Tashi Sonam, with a severe head wound and other gunshot wounds. “Many others have been injured after paramilitary forces from People’s Armed Police lobbed teargas shells and beat them”, the Tibetan Centre for Human Rights and Democracy (TCHRD) reported. A number of Tibetans were detained after the incident. TCHRD confirmed 18, out of which 14 have sustained gunshot wounds and are receiving treatment. “There is no death reported yet although the injured are not out of danger,” the research centre said.
Defying threats from the local authorities, Tibetans offered prayers in front of a large portrait of His Holiness the Dalai Lama at Lithang monastery in Kardze county, and displayed a huge banner reading “Celebration of the 78th birthday of His Holiness the Dalai Lama, the Nobel Peace Laureate”.
The Tibetan Parliament in Exile, based in Dharamsala, condemned China’s use of lethal force on unarmed Tibetans. In its statement, the Tibetan Parliament said that the indiscriminate firing by Chinese police on Tibetans holding a prayer service “is an extremely brutal and inhuman act” while urging “governments to condemn such human rights violations committed by the Chinese government in Tibet”.
Update July 20
The Tibetan Centre for Human Rights and Democracy (TCHRD), which has been keeping a close watch on the incident has released more details.
When Chinese armed police stopped the ceremony at Tawu, the Tibetans moved to another nearby venue and held prayers and made offerings in front of a portrait of the Dalai Lama. Chinese armed police detained 18 Tibetans. TCHRD reported: “Out of them, 14 have sustained gunshot wounds and are receiving treatment….the injured are not out of danger”. They also identified more injured Tibetans, including Yama Tsering, 72, who was “severely beaten and got four of his ribs broken.” Dekyi Gonpo, aka Goleb, has reportedly become deaf in one ear due to the beatings while Ngawang, a former administrative staff at Nyatso Monastery, layman Tamka Choeden, and school student Palden Wangmo have been injured in police beatings. Ugyen Tashi, a layman, received eight bullet shots and both he and Tashi Sonam, who was shot in the head, are reported to be in critical condition and are undergoing treatment.
Gyaltsen, a Tibetan environmental activist, was also severely beaten and two of his ribs were broken and Tsewang Choephel, a senior monk and administrative staff at Nyatso Monastery was shot at multiple times on his hands and legs and remains in critical condition.
Later in the evening, over 3,000 local Tibetans reportedly gathered at the Nyatso Monastery, demanding the release of those detained earlier that day and threatening non-violent direct actions such as withdrawal of their children from Chinese government-run schools, boycotting farming, and blocking all traffic movement in Tawu.
TCHRD reported that the Chinese authorities released the detained Tibetans at around midnight on July 7.
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