Relatives Demand Release of Detained Monks, More Arrests Reported at Kirti Monastery
[Saturday, 30 April 2011, 4:15 p.m.]
The
DHARAMSHALA:
The
As
More Arrests
Meanwhile,
Moreover,
His
families and relatives of the Tibetan monks detained from Kirti
monastery in northeastern Tibet have attempted to lodge their complaint
to the regional government authority in Ngaba, Kanyag Tsering, a monk
of Kirti monastery in Dharamsala, said.
The whereabouts of over 300 monks since they were removed from the
monastery following a police on the night of 21 April, which left two
elderly Tibetans dead due to police beating.
families and relatives of those detained monks who hail from Khangsarma
village in Chigdril district in Golog went to Ngaba to lodge their
complaint over the arbitrary detention of the monks on 29 April, Kanyag
Tsering said. He said they also intended to demand the immediate
release of the monks.
they were travelling to Ngaba in around 20 cars, Chinese security
forces in 10 large military vehicles blocked them at some 5 km from the
regional government office in Ngaba before being handed them over to
the police in Chigdril district.
there is no let up in the arbitrary detention of monks at Kirti
monastery. Four monks, including Lobsang Kunchok, aged 28, a native of
Thawa Ghongma, were detained at around 9 am (local time) on 28 April.
The names of the other three monks and their whereabouts remain
unknown, Kanyag Tsering said.
another monk named Tsering Damdul has been taken into police custody
for his alleged role in taking the burned body of Phuntsog into the
monastery. Phuntsog, a 21-year-old monk of Kirti monastery, killed
himself by self-immolation on 16 March to protest China’s brutal
repression on the peaceful protests in Tibet in 2008. Phuntsog’s tragic
death created resentment among monks of Kirti monastery and the general
public, which resulted in the military blockade of the monastery.
Holiness the Dalai Lama and the Central Tibetan Administration had made
urgent appeal for restraint by the Chinese government in resolving the
crisis at Kirti Monastery. The Central Tibetan Administration had also
urged the international community, governments and parliaments around
the world to make an appeal to the Chinese government to release the
detained monks at once.
