15. Feb 2010
Protest in Tibet during Losar
(ECCKM; IANS; ICT; RFA) A demonstration by reportedly several hundred Tibetans on the first day of the Tibetan New Year, or Losar Festival, led to a standoff between the protesters and Chinese security forces in Ngaba (Chin: Aba) county, Ngaba Q &TAP, Sichuan province. The protesters gathered with prayer wheels and rosaries for a vigil in commemoration of the victims of the protest in 2008. As a sign of mourning, they ate plain tsampa (roasted barley flour) and dry bread and wore old clothes. Tibetans normally wear their best traditional clothes for Losar. The monks protesting were from Ngaba Kirti Monastery and Sey Monastery. Chinese security personnel confiscated mobile phones of people who took video and pictures of the protest, which later dispersed. There also were reports of other, smaller, demonstrations across Tibetan areas, in Lhasa for instance, where subdued and devotional commemorations were held amid tensions as security was stepped up.