(TibetanReview.net, Apr23’24) — Chinese authorities have offered to pay a laughably paltry amount of compensation to some 25 Tibetan families in Markham (Chinese: Mangkang) County of Chamdo (Changdu or Qamdo) City in Tibet after a local official had illegally sold their grazing land to businesspeople without their knowledge or consent last year, reported the Tibetan service of rfa.org Apr 22. The affected families, who are residents of Taktsa Village in the county’s Luonixiang rural township, have rejected the compensation decision despite dire warnings from the authorities.
They have been offered just 3,000 yuan (about US$415) each, the report said. It cited a resident as saying the affected families have been ordered to accept the compensation without protest, as the amount, being decided by higher authorities, could not be negotiated.
The report cited other residents as saying those who refuse to comply with the government’s order and related instructions could face imprisonment. These included leaking outside the country information about the illegal confiscation of their land and the local residents’ reaction as well as the authorities’ responses thereon.
The compensation order was stated to have been conveyed at a meeting on Apr 16 which at least one member from each affected family was required to attend without bringing their mobile phones.
“The people were unhappy about the compensation and rejected the low figure,” the first resident-source has said, even as their pastureland was being dug up to clear it of all remaining patches of grass.
The decision to pay the paltry amount of compensation was a belated one. It came after the affected families submitted petitions and also protested on Apr 10 against the illegal confiscation of their land, which they learnt about only when people working for the buyers of their land came to evict them early this month.
Four of the protesters were taken away and subjected to interrogation and severe beating before being released on Apr 16, the report said. Those not taken away were also reported to have been slapped and beaten during the Apr 10 protest.
Since the protest, about 10 policemen have been deployed to patrol the area day and night, where they closely monitor all activities of the people, the report cited sources with knowledge of the local situation as saying.