Residents Protest Exploitation of Mineral Resources in Eastern Tibet[Tuesday, 13 April 2010, 10:09 a.m.]
Dharamshala:
The Chinese police have arrested one Tibetan monk of Guru Monastery
during a peaceful demonstration in the mineral rich Nyarong district in
Tibet’s Kham Province on last Thursday, Tenzin, a former monk of the
monastery living in Dharamsala told TibetNet.He said monks
named Tsering Gyatso, aged 19, Tsering Wangchuk, 22, Apo Tashi, 22 from
Guru Monastery and Rinzin Dorjee, aged 23 or 24 from Jamjon Monastery
took to the street in Nyarong on 8 April. They were carrying a large
banner emblazoned with Tibet’s national flag and shouted slogans like
‘Long live His Holiness the Dalai Lama, swift return of His Holiness
the Dalai Lama to Tibet and Tibet is a independent nation’. They
were later joined by over 500 local Tibetan residents in the protest
against the Chinese government’s exploitation of rich mineral resources
in Nyarong region. Criticizing the Chinese government for carrying out
mining works in the region, the residents vowed to stop farming their
land till the authorities halt the mining activities.”Nyarong
is very rich in gold, valuable stones and many other resources which
the Chinese government has been taking away to China,” Tenzin said.”The
monk named Apo Tashi, who took pictures of the protest, was taken into
custody by the Chinese authorities and his whereabouts remain unknown,”
he added.
