Police keep tight lid on Tibet after protests

The region sees its biggest demonstrations in 20 years.

from the March 14, 2008 edition

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Eager to witness this uprising, the tourists, including this writer, looked for taxis at nearby Beijing Street. But irate drivers were shouting at a group of police of both Chinese and Tibetan ethnicity. With police out in force, blocking access to monasteries, Tibetans warned the foreigners to come inside.

Normally afraid to talk openly about politics, they were impassioned by the arrests of monks. "I heard that they arrested four monks, and even three nuns on Monday night," said one local worker. "This will make everyone angry."

A young Tibetan woman was worried about her mother at their home near Sera monastery, one of the three most famous in Tibet. Her mother, talking into a cellphone from the roof of their building, told her about the mayhem of police and protesters below. She said the monks were demanding the release of fellow monks, arrested a day earlier during protests at two sites: the road from Drepung Monastery to Potala Palace, and Barkhor Square downtown.

The protest outside Sera monastery reportedly began at 3 p.m., the time each day when Sera monks challenge each other to passionate debates about Buddhism, using martial arts techniques, such as swinging prayer beads and slapping hands, to shock pupils into enlightenment.

Many Tibetans, perhaps the most devout Buddhists in Asia, said they feared monks would be beaten and jailed for years. They said police are stepping up intimidation and making it harder for Tibetans to get permission to become monks, study their own language, or gain passports to travel.

"Lhasa is not a free place like Beijing," said one local. "It is a police state. Spies are following you everywhere, on the street, on the phone, on the Internet. They can take you away and nobody knows when you'll come back. Sometimes people come back after 10 years. They can't even talk or think anymore."

Many tourists appeared unaware of the protests and continued to enjoy the city's old-world charm.

While welcoming tourists, many Tibetans say they want Hong Kong's power to restrict the entry of Chinese migrant workers, who they say bring with them alcohol, prostitution, and disdain for religion. "We like Chinese people, but there are too many of them coming into Lhasa," said one local.

With global attention focused on China ahead of the Beijing Olympics, many Tibetans say this year might be their best chance to protest human rights abuses in Tibet. "We are afraid of losing our culture," says a local. "Even some of the police who are arresting monks are Tibetan people."

The reporter on this story, an eyewitness to these events, has not been identified to protect future access to Tibet and the identities of local people.

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