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Protests in Kardze demand political change

By Lobsang Wangyal | Tibet Sun

Five Tibetan college students, members of Regional Tibetan Youth Congress, embark on a cycle rally to protest the Chinese crackdown on Tibetans in Tibet, in Delhi on 17 June 2011. The one-day cycle rally began from Delhi University and ended at Jantar Mantar, going through Majnu ka Tilla and Rajghat.TYC Handout

Monks and nuns in Kardze staged demonstrations last week calling for political change in Tibet, according to the Tibetan Centre for Human Rights in Democracy.

A monk named Goyang raised slogans calling “Long Live the Dalai Lama” and “Freedom in Tibet”. He also called for release of Pangri Rinpoche, a revered Tibetan lama in the area, and all other prisoners in Tibet.

On the same day on 10 June, two nuns from Lamdak nunnery, Jampa Lhatso, 25 and Ringa, 20, also staged a demonstration, calling “Long live the Dalai Lama”, and “Free Tibet” slogans.

They were reportedly beaten and taken away by police. Their current situation is not known.

Kardze (Tib: དཀར་མཛེས།; Ch: Ganzi) is a Tibetan-dominated region in the traditional Kham region of Tibet, in today’s Sichuan Province of China.

The website of the exile Tibetan administration, Tibet.net, is reporting continued protests in the region. Chinese authorities have tightened the security in the area, and travellers from nearby areas are required to seek permission from local officials before entering Kardze.

Media reports say that China has closed Tibet to foreigners until 26 July ahead of the 90th anniversary of the Chinese Communist Party on 1 July.

Kardze has been a hotbed for anti-China protests since 2008. Massive anti-China protests in the same year on the Tibetan plateau left more than 200 Tibetans dead due to the crackdown by Chinese armed forces, claim exile Tibetans. Many people from Kardze were among the killed.

Sporadic protests by lone or small groups have remained common in Kardze. In 2009, Tibetans in Kardze have led a “farming boycott movement”.

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