(TibetanReview.net, Jul04, 2014) –Chinese police and paramilitary armed police have severely beaten a group of Tibetans who protested against an ongoing mining project in Dechen (Chinese: Deqin or Diqing) County of Dechen Prefecture, Yunnan Province, on Jun 30, according to several reports. At least two were severely injured and nine were detained.
The reports said the Chinese Huicheng minerals company was operating the copper mine at Martak Village in the county’s Yama Township on a fake licence but with support from the local authorities. The Tibetans protested not only because the mining was going on at the sacred Ganglha Mountain but also due to environmental destruction and the imposition of restrictions on the movement of local Tibetans.
Radio Free Asia (Washington) said Jul 2 that the protesters were a group of women who visited the mining site to demand a halt to the extraction work. The Chinese responded by beating the group severely. Later when some men visited the site to join the protest, they were taken away. The exile Tibetan administration at Dharamshala, India, said on its Tibet.net website Jul 2 that hundreds of Chinese police and military personnel were involved in attacking the Tibetan protesters.
The local Tibetans had been demanding an end to the mining project over the past five to six years the work was going on, but without any result. The protest grew stronger after a new road was build to the mining site following the discovery of new rich deposits of copper there.