MCLC: Tibetan protesters fired on

[Denton, Kirk]

MCLC LIST
From: kirk (denton.2 at osu.edu)
Subject: Tibetan protesters fired on
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Source: NYT 
(1/23/12):http://www.nytimes.com/2012/01/24/world/asia/deadly-new-violence-
reported-in-restive-tibetan-area-of-western-china.html

Tibetans Fired Upon in Protest in China
By KEITH BRADSHER 

HONG KONG ‹ Security forces opened fire on Tibetan protesters in western
China on Monday, wounding at least 32 people and killing at least one of
them in the largest violent confrontation in ethnic Tibetan areas of China
since 2008, two Tibetan rights groups and the Tibetan exile government
said.

Free Tibet, a group based in London, said tensions remained high into the
evening after the shootings in Luhuo, which is known in Tibetan as Draggo
and located in westernmost Sichuan Province, near the border with Tibet.

It was the second reported shooting of Tibetan protesters in the past week
and a half. The previous one, on Jan. 14, in which two people were
reported wounded, took place in Aba, also located in Sichuan Province and
100 miles northeast of Luhuo.

The combination of increasingly frequent confrontations and rising
casualties during them ³underlines how the situation is escalating,² said
Stephanie Brigden, the director of Free Tibet.

Chinese government agencies were closed on Monday in observance of the
first day of Lunar New Year celebrations. The official Xinhua news agency
had no report on the latest shooting. Internet access to the area was cut
off by the authorities, apparently to slow the dissemination of
information.

Free Tibet identified the slain protester as Norpa Yonten, a 49-year-old
layman. The International Campaign for Tibet, a rights group based in
Washington, said that he was the brother of a reincarnated lama.

Ms. Brigden said the group had the names of 31 more people with gunshot
wounds. She said other people had been shot and injured but their names
were not immediately available.

Kate Saunders, a spokeswoman for the International Campaign for Tibet,
said in a telephone interview that three people, including Mr. Yonten, had
been killed and that 49 people had sought treatment for injuries at a
clinic operated by monks. Of the 49, 9 had gunshot wounds and 40 had
various injuries from beatings and other causes, she said.

People in China wounded by gunshots are often leery of going to hospitals,
fearing that they will face questioning and possibly retaliation by the
authorities.

The Tibetan exile government in India said in a statement on its Web site
that it had confirmed one death in the Luhuo shooting but that it had
heard other reports that as many as six people had been killed.

³The Tibetan Parliament is deeply aggrieved by the incidents and condemns
the Chinese authorities for resorting to such drastic acts of force and
repression,² the exile government said.

In addition to those Tibetans who have been shot and killed, 17 Tibetans
have set themselves on fire since last March 16.

There were varied reports on Monday regarding the cause of the violence in
Luhuo, including one that the protesters may have sought the release of
people detained for distributing leaflets calling for greater freedom for
Tibetans, or that the protest was part of a local boycott against Chinese
celebrations of the Lunar New Year.

Tibetans traditionally celebrate the arrival of the new year a month later.

Anticipating further protests during Tibetan new year celebrations or on
the fourth anniversary of violent protests in March 2008, the Chinese
government informed travel agencies last week that foreigners would not be
allowed to travel in Tibet from Feb. 20 to March 31.

Luhuo lies in Ganzi Prefecture, known in Tibetan as the Kandze Prefecture.
The prefecture has been one of the most turbulent areas of ethnic Tibetan
unrest for the past four years. On March 24, 2008, a monk was shot and
killed as police officers fired on a crowd.