MCLC: confrontation spreads in Tibetan region

[Denton, Kirk]

MCLC LIST
From: kirk (denton.2 at osu.edu)
Subject: confrontation spreads in Tibetan region
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Source: NYT (1/24/12):
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/01/25/world/asia/china-says-tibetan-monks-riote
d-provoking-deadly-confrontation.html

Deadly Confrontation Spreads in Tibetan Region of China
By KEITH BRADSHER

HONG KONG ‹ Deadly showdowns between Chinese security forces and Tibetans
in a restive region of western China spread to a second town on Tuesday,
outside advocacy groups reported. At least two and perhaps as many as five
Tibetans were killed by gunfire and many more wounded, the groups said, in
what appeared to be the most violent outbreak in the region in nearly four
years.

The new confrontation
<http://www.phayul.com/news/article.aspx?id=30743&article=5+killed+in+fresh
+protests+in+Serthar&t=1&c=1>, in the town of Seda, known in Tibetan as
Serthar, was reported by Free Tibet, a London-based organization that
advocates Tibetan autonomy, and by Phayul.com <http://www.phayul.com/>, a
Tibetan exile Web portal. Their accounts said that Chinese security forces
opened fire on a crowd of Tibetan protesters in Serthar. Free Tibet said
that it had confirmed two deaths and an unspecified number with ³serious
wounds,² and that the town was under curfew.

³This is the second consecutive day that Chinese forces have opened fire
and killed unarmed Tibetan protesters,² said Stephanie Brigden, director
of Free Tibet.

The Phayul.com account of the Serthar shooting said that 5 Tibetan
protesters had been killed and more than 40 wounded, that all shops in the
town were closed and that Serthar was ³under virtual martial law, with
large numbers of Chinese security personnel maintaining a strict
surveillance.²

There was no immediate comment from the Chinese government concerning the
Serthar confrontation, which came one day after a conflict in the
neighboring community of Luhuo, where at least two Tibetan protesters were
killed by Chinese security forces. Both towns are in Sichuan Province.

Seeking to counter the narrative of Tibetan advocacy groups about the
violence in Luhuo, the Chinese government said Tuesday that the episode
had started as a riot by monks and protesters who attacked stores and a
police station.

³The mob, some armed with knives, threw stones at police officers and
destroyed two police vehicles and two ambulances,² said a report by
Xinhua, the official news agency.

Citing Hong Lei, a Foreign Ministry spokesman, Xinhua said that one
protester had been killed in Luhuo and that four protesters were
hospitalized with injuries, while five police officers were injured.

The accounts from both sides suggested that the violence in the area was
the worst since a series of large-scale protests that rocked
Tibetan-populated regions of China in early 2008, just five months before
the Olympic Games in Beijing.

Free Tibet and another overseas Tibetan advocacy group, the International
Campaign for Tibet, as well as the Tibetan exile government in India, all
said on Monday evening that security forces had opened fire on protesters
in Luhuo, known in Tibetan as Draggo.

Free Tibet said that 2 protesters had been killed and 31 wounded by
gunfire, while the International Campaign for Tibet said that 3 protesters
had been killed and 49 injured, nine of them with gunshot wounds.

The exile government said that at least one person had been killed, and
possibly six.

The Xinhua report made no mention of gunfire. The Foreign Ministry was
closed Tuesday in observance of the second day of Chinese New Year.

Free Tibet had said that the protest might have started with demands for
religious freedom, or with a refusal to observe Chinese New Year, which
comes a month before the time when Tibetans traditionally mark a new year.

³There had been some stones thrown, but we¹re uncertain about the sequence
of events, whether that was after the security forces opened fire,² Ms.
Brigden said.

She said that she had not heard any reports from the Tibetan side of
knives wielded against the Chinese security forces, adding, ³I would
suggest that is untrue.²

Citing a Tibetan monk in India, Radio Free Asia said that thousands of
Tibetans had participated in the protest on Monday and that they had
destroyed ³Chinese shops and other Chinese facilities in the area.²

Free Tibet also said in a separate statement that tear gas had been used
on Monday against protesters in Aba, another ethnic Tibetan community
located 100 miles northeast of Luhuo in western Sichuan Province.

Mr. Hong was quoted by Xinhua as denouncing the Tibetan groups outside
China, saying, ³Overseas forces of ŒTibet independence¹ have always
fabricated rumors and distorted the truth to discredit the Chinese
government with issues involving Tibet.²

Keith Bradsher reported from Hong Kong, and Rick Gladstone from New York.