05. Feb 2009
Details of Kardze Protests Emerge
(RFA) Further details are emerging of a protest staged in a monastery in Dege, Kardze county, during which gunshots were heard. The event occurred on 27 January 2009, at the Gonchen monastery. A Radio Free Asia (RFA) source said local authorities had tried to recruit monks to greet visiting Chinese officials, but none had volunteered. "Some of the local Chinese PSB officials then dressed as monks and greeted the officials. The Tibetan monks were angered when they heard about it, so they protested and clashed with local police", he said. The source said the clash involved shooting, but was unable to provide details of casualties. After the clash, he said, five monks were detained in the county jail, touching off protests by Tibetans calling for their release. "About 1,000 local Tibetans, including 300 monks, local lay Tibetans, and others who came to pray at Gonchen monastery and Dege Printing Center marched to the local police station and demanded the release of the detained monks", the source said. He said that details of events following the second protest were "vague".