(TibetanReview.net, Feb25’24) – Chinese police in Dege County of Kardze (Chinese: Ganzi) prefecture, Sichuan province, had begun interrogating the more than 1,000 Tibetans they had arrested for protesting against the building of a massive hydropower dam complex in their locality, with some requiring hospitalization due to serious injury from severe beating, reported the Tibetan service of rfa.org Feb 24.
The detainees were “slapped and beaten severely each time they refused to answer important questions,” the report quoted one source as saying, speaking on condition of anonymity for personal safety. “Many had to be taken to the hospital.”
Local residents, including monks, in this historically Tibetan region, now administered as part of China’s Sichuan province, had been protesting against the dam construction since Feb 14 as it will lead to a forced relocation of two villages, home to some 2,000 Tibetans, and submerge six monasteries including Wonto, which is famous for ancient murals dating back to the 13th century.
“One of the monks from Wonto Monastery was among those who had to be immediately rushed to the hospital because he had been beaten so badly that he could not even speak,” the report quoted a source as saying. He was reported to have had many severe bruises on his body.
Many of the more than 1,000 arrested Tibetans were stated to be held in a police station in Upper Wonto, with many others being kept in an old prison in Dege County. More were stated to be held at various other facilities throughout the county.
“In these detention centres, the arrested Tibetans were not given any food, save for some hot water, and many passed out because of the lack of food amid the freezing temperatures,” the report quoted a second source as saying.
The authorities had previously ordered the Tibetans to bring their own tsampa, a staple traditional Tibetan diet of roasted barley, and bedding to suggest a long period detention for them.
Meanwhile in Dege county itself, a Covid 19-like restrictions have been imposed with the deployment of large police forces in the areas where Tibetans were being held, the report said.
“Each of the police units brought in from outside Dege have been tasked with controlling a community each and for carrying out strict surveillance and suppression of the people there,” the report quoted a third source as saying.
“In the communities of Wonto and Yena, people have been restricted from leaving their homes and the restrictions are so severe that it is similar to what happened during the Covid-19 outbreak when the entire place was under lockdown,” the same source has said.
The arrest of the protesters began on Feb 22 and the interrogation and beatings on Feb 24, the report said.