(TibetanReview.net, Feb24’24) – Police have arrested more than 1,000 Tibetans, including monks, in an eastern Tibetan area that is currently administered as part of China’s Sichuan province after they took part in a series of protests to demand a halt to the construction of a massive hydropower dam complex that will destroy six Buddhist monasteries and force the relocation of two villages, said the Tibetan service of rfa.org Feb 24, citing local Tibetan sources and updating its Feb 22 report of more than 100 arrests.
They were being held in various places throughout Dege county in the province’s Kardze (Chinese: Ganzi) Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture due to lack of space for holding them in a single place, the report said, citing sources requesting anonymity due to safety reasons.
Those arrested have reportedly been ordered to bring their own tsampa – roasted barley flour that is a staple Tibetan diet – and bedding to sustain themselves, suggesting a long period of detention. Some of the arrested monks with poor health conditions were reportedly allowed to return to their monasteries on Feb 23.
The report said that earlier, on Feb 22, Chinese authorities deployed a special armed police force in black uniforms in Kardze’s Upper Wonto village region to arrest more than 100 Tibetan monks from Wonto and Yena monasteries along with local residents. Many were beaten and injured, and later admitted in Dege County Hospital.
Many Tibetans belonging to Upper Wonto village working in other parts of the country were stated to have returned home upon hearing the news and visited the detention centres to call for the release of the arrested Tibetans, only to see themselves arrested.
Local Tibetans had been submitting appeals and holding protests on the streets of Dege’s Wangbuding township since Feb 14 which began with a gathering of more than 300 Tibetans. The 2,240-megawatt Gangtuo hydropower station, the target of the protests, is to be built on the Jinsha River (Drichu) in the upper reaches of the Yangtze, one of China’s most important waterways.
One of the monasteries, the Wonto Monastery, is said to date to the 13th century and to include murals painted from that period.
The monastery was stated to wear a deserted look on the eve of Chotrul Duchen, the Day of Miracles, which is commemorated on the 15th day of the first month of the Tibetan New Year, or Losar, marking the celebration of a series of miracles said to have been performed by the Buddha.
“In the past, monks of Wonto Monastery would traditionally preside over large prayer gatherings and carry out all the religious activities. … This time, the monasteries are quiet and empty. … It’s very sad to see such monasteries of historical importance being prepared for destruction. The situation is the same at Yena Monastery,” the report quoted a source as saying.
The protests represent a significant development as Tibetan protests have become rare in Chinese ruled Tibet because of strict controls on public gatherings and extensive surveillance by authorities who consider any such activity as separatist.
The building of the hydropower dam is said to lead to a forced resettlement of the Upper Wonto and Shipa villages, home to about 2,000 Tibetans. It will also engulf the Yena, Wonto and Khardho monasteries in Dege county and the Rabten, Gonsar and Tashi monasteries in Chamdo township.
Wonto and Yena monasteries, located closest to the site of the planned project, together house about 300 monks and are of significant cultural and religious importance to the local Tibetans, the report said.
The Gangtuo dam is said to be part of a plan announced in 2012 by China’s National Development and Reform Commission to build a massive 13-tier hydropower complex on the Drichu. It is centred at Wontok (or Gangtuo in Chinese) in Dege county.
Following the start of the protests on Feb 14, Chinese authorities closed all the main roads and imposed strict restrictions, including on digital access, on the villages and monasteries in the Wangbuding township, the report said.
It cited video footage as showing monks prostrating before visiting Chinese officials to plead with them to halt the construction of the dam during their visit to Yena and Wonto monasteries in preparation for their demolition.