Tibetans told 'not to watch torch relay'
Updated
Security was tight in Tibet on the weekend, as the Olympic torch passed through and reports of police patrolling in riot gear also showed that Lhasa is not a normal city. Indeed, human rights and lobby groups have spoken of a "climate of fear" in Tibet, as the plateau remains sealed off to foreigners and the Chinese government emphasizes "political education" to ensure stability. The International Campaign for Tibet also speaks of torture and disappearances.
Presenter: Sen Lam
Speaker: Kate Saunders is spokeswoman for the International Campaign for Tibet
SAUNDERS: I think that the silence that your correspondent observed speaks volumes about that climate of fear at the moment. Tibetans were warned before the torch relay that they should not go out of their houses. There was even an instruction that was sent round that they should not even look out their windows on the day of the torch relay and shops were closed. I think that through the closure of the shops, the absence of Tibetans on the streets, the absence of pilgrims, Tibetans were showing really that they were not a part of this celebration. This is really a city under siege, where people are suffering terribly at the moment. We hear that there are still disappearances taking place. The pattern usually is that there is a raid on somebody's house at about two or three o'clock in the morning, people are taken away to an unknown location. And we've received reports from Tibetans who have been imprisoned, of the torture that is happening in prison. And as your correspondent said the state is doing everything it can to suppress any expression of Tibetan feeling or identity. This is the most serious crackdown for more than 50 years.
Now you mentioned in your introduction, the violent rebellion that took place on March 14th and it is worth remembering that the protest did not only happen in Lhasa. We've monitored 125 protests against Chinese rule across the whole Tibetan Plateau, the eastern areas as well as Central Lhasa. And in eleven of those protests, unarmed demonstrators have been fired upon and many killed by armed troops.
LAM: Do we you know Kate, do we know if there are still many Tibetans still under detention or whose whereabouts are not known? Do we have a figure here?
SAUNDERS: It's very difficult. The Chinese authorities say themselves that they have released more than 1,000 people over the last few weeks. It's quite an acknowledgment in itself that they detained more than 1,000 people. It's unclear. We believe that hundreds are still in detention. What seems to have happened is that there was a widespread security sweep. After the protests, many thousands were taken in detention. It seems as though many of those people have been tortured in prison and then released after one or two weeks, with a sort of hardcore remaining in prison, probably for safe charges, for splittism or separatism.
LAM: As you say, the Chinese authorities have released 1,000 detainees and indeed this was reported by the official Xinhua newsagency. That's a good start though, isn't it?
SAUNDERS: Well, I think it would be if we knew the truth. I mean the fact that they have acknowledged more than 1,000 detainees for offences which were probably in most cases no more than peaceful protests is very serious in itself. But I think the impact of this crackdown is extending throughout the entire society and your reporter, Stephen mentioned that when they went to Sera monastery, a monastery where there was once thousands of monks in an important religious institution and he saw only ten or 12. I think that again says such a lot for the state of intimidation that Tibetans are in. We don't know the location of the Sera monks that were not there. It's likely that quite a few of them in detention. Many others are confined to their monks rooms and so on, but extraordinary pressure and intimidation being imposed there.
LAM: And just briefly, do we know what impact the so-called patriotic education has had on the local Tibetans?
SAUNDERS: Yes, we know that those monasteries all over Tibet, including in Lhasa are pretty much under lockdown. They are sealed off with many monks not able to leave their rooms, even to go out of the monastery briefly. Monks really aren't able to continue their religious practice which is a severe crisis for the Tibetan religion and anybody who goes to Tibet or who knows anything about Tibet has found that for Tibetans, the religion and devotion to the Dalai Lama are an integral part of their identity as a people.
