02 February 2006
One of five Tibetans held for slaughterhouse fire freed, blind.
(RFA) Authorities in Kardze (Chin: Ganzi) have released one of six Tibetan nomads held as the main suspects in connection with the burning of a Chinese-owned abattoir. Radio Free Asia’s Tibetan service reported that the man was released “since he lost both his eyes [after] beatings by Chinese prison officials and a severe infection”. More than 160 Tibetans were originally detained 05 August 2005 after hundreds of people stormed the slaughterhouse in Manikengo (Chin: Manigange) township in Kardze Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture, Sichuan province. The Tibetans, some of whom said they were angry because they had been pressured to sell their animals for slaughter at below-market prices, broke into the building and found what they described as a large number of animals, including dogs and horses, the sources said. They freed all the animals and set fire to the building. Friction over the existence of the slaughterhouse is said to have been escalating for more than a year, with monastic leaders trying to buy the property and the Chinese owners refusing to sell it. A local said: “The local Tibetans didn’t like the idea of huge slaughterhouse in Dege county, [and] it had no business last year. Neighbouring Pawon (Chi: Babeng) township planned to sell them about 300 yaks, but the local nomads of Manikengo objected and the proposal was withdrawn”. At one stage in 2004, the Tibetan community organised a boycott of the abattoir, known to Tibetan residents as the ‘Manikengo slaughterhouse,’ but registered as ‘Dege Longsheng Yak LLC’, a subsidiary of ‘Chengdu Ganzi Longsheng Meizi Yak Ltd. Inc.’