Beijing (dpa) – Dozens of Tibetan Buddhist monks staged an anti-government protest despite heavy security and long prison sentences for Tibetans who demonstrated earlier in nearby areas of western China, reports said Wednesday. About 100 monks marched from the Bora monastery in Gansu province to a local government office Tuesday afternoon, carrying Tibetan flags and demanding human rights, religious freedom and language rights, the Indian-based Tibetan Centre for Human Rights and Democracy quoted witnesses as saying. Police later surrounded the monastery and were “keeping a strict watch” over movements in and out of the compound, the group said. US-based Radio Free Asia quoted a local resident as saying the police had demanded the protesters give themselves up. China's state-run Xinhua news agency also quoted officials as saying that “more than 60 monks staged a brief parade” before they were “persuaded by local authorities to return to their monastery.” Meanwhile, courts in Tibetan areas of neighboring Sichuan and Qinghai provinces sentenced at least 12 Tibetans to up to 12 years in prison for joining two earlier protests, Radio Free Asia said. Seven Tibetans were sentenced to eight to 12 years in prison last week for protesting in January against the government in Sichuan's Xinlong county town, or Nyagrong in Tibetan, it quoted a Tibetan exile with contacts in the area as saying. They were among 17 Tibetans who were recently “paraded in the town to deter others from protesting against Chinese rule,” the exile told the broadcaster. Five more Tibetan protesters were sentenced to one to three years in prison in Qinghai's Banma, or Pema, county last week, it said. The Chinese government has tightened security in most Tibetan areas this year after a series of protests and self-immolations, many of them by monks. Two of the latest self-immolations took place last week in Qinghai's Longwu, or Rongwo, monastery town. Thousands of Tibetans defied police to gather in Longwu Saturday for the funeral of Sonam Thargyal, a monk who died after setting fire to himself, reports said. BM ShortURL: http://goo.gl/MCRmN Tags: China, Crackdown, featured, Protests, Tibet Section: East Asia, Human Rights, Latest News
