Hidden mural of the Dalai Lama in Lhasa

Troops from the paramilitary People's Armed Police (PAP) and Public Security Bureau (PSB) fired on hundreds of protesters led by Buddhist monks at Kardze in the Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture of China's Sichuan province April 3, leaving eight dead. The protest began when monks of Tongkor Monastery in Zithang township, Kardze County, marched to demand the release of two monks arrested the previous day for defying China's official "Patriotic Education" campaign, which requires monks to denounce the Dalai Lama, according to the Tibetan Center for Human Rights and Democracy (TCHRD). Scores of Tibetans were injured and arrested, the TCHRD said. China's official Xinhua news agency reported one government official was seriously injured in what it called a riot.

Tibetan activists—chanting "Reject China's bloody torch," "Olympics in China, torture in Tibet" and "We will never give up"—are gathering daily at midday at San Francisco's Civic Center in what has essentially become a protest campaign to demand their right to protest. With the Olympic torch set to arrive in the city in less than two weeks, Mayor Gavin Newsom (while paying requisite lip service to the First Amendment) is considering shunting protesters away from the torch route to isolated "free speech zones"—which the Bay Guardian rightly calls "an oxymoron if there ever was one."

Days after the harsh crackdown on protests in Lhasa, Chinese authorities are now arresting hundreds of Tibetans elsewhere in Tibet and Tibetan regions of neighboring Gansu and Sichuan provinces. The Tibetan Center for Human Rights and Democracy reports that in addition to those detained in the riots, 24 have been arrested in Lhasa "on a basis of pre-trial detention." The official Chinese news agency Xinhua reports that 170 "rioters" in the city have surrendered to police following days of unrest "that killed 13 innocent civilians." While Chinese authorities say "leniency" will be applied to those who surrender, the TCHRD questions this, noting the experience of 1989. The TCHRD says over 1,000 have been arrested throughout the Tibetan region, with hundreds more "disappeared." Homes have been raided and ransacked, and monasteries generally remain under occupation by the security forces. (TCHRD, March 21; Xinhua, March 19)

The official Chinese news agency Xinhua March 16 quoted the 11th Panchen Lama Gyaincain Norbu harshly condemning the Tibetan uprising: "The rioters' acts not only harmed the interests of the nation and the people, but also violated the aim of Buddhism... We resolutely oppose all activities to split the country and undermine ethnic unity. We strongly condemn the crime of a tiny number of people to hurt the lives and properties of the people."

While little news is now coming out of Lhasa, the Tibetan Center for Human Rights and Democracy (TCHRD) reports that at least three Tibetan protesters were shot dead by Chinese security forces March 18 during a peaceful demonstration in Kardze county, Sichuan. (TCHRD, March 18) Hundreds of Tibetans in Amdo Bora, Tibet Autonomous Prefecture, Gansu province, staged a peaceful march against the Chinese rule in Tibet. (TCHRD, March 18) Protests also continue in Nepal, where police arrested 58 Tibetans who marched on the UN offices in Kathmandu. (Phayul, March 18)

On March 18, protests broke out in Ganja, a nomadic village 25 kilometers north of Labrang in Amdo (traditional Tibetan region in Gansu province), with some 2,000 marching on government township office with Tibetan flags and portraits of the Dalai Lama. Residents at the nearby nomadic village of Songkok stormed local government offices, shouting anti-China slogans. Protesters from Amchok village began a cross-country march towards Labrang but were halted by the People's Armed Police. (Phayul, March 18) Some 600 monks from Amchok Tsenyi monastery staged a protest outside the local government office in Tsenyi, a village in Ngaba Tibet Autonomous Prefecture, Sichuan province. (Phayul, March 18)

A week after it began, the uprising in Tibet finally hit the front page of the New York Times March 15, with clashes reported throughout Lhasa the previous day. At the Tromsikhang market, Chinese-owned shops were burned and cars overturned. At least two were killed when police fired on crowds in the city's Barkhor district. A tourist bus was torched outside the Ramoche temple, where monks clashed with police and protesters waved traditional white scarves, chanting "Free Tibet." Beijing is said to be bringing in military police troops, as well as dispatching them to other parts of China with significant Tibetan populations—such as the sacred city of Bamei, Sichuan. BBC News says Chinese authorities put the total dead at 10, but the BBC World Service reported early the 16th that the Dalai Lama says he has received reports of up to 100 dead. He also rejects official Chinese assertions that martial law has not been declared. "I have the feeling this is like in 1959, after the 10th of March... I fear more killing, more suffering."

With military vehicles patrolling Lhasa and monasteries surrounded by troops following the biggest protests in Tibet since 1989, unrest is spreading to other cities with substantial Tibetan populations. Protests are reported at Lutsang monastery in Qinghai (known in Tibetan as Amdo), with hundreds of monks chanting slogans calling for return of their exiled leader, the Dalai Lama. According to the Free Tibet campaign, 100 monks from Myera monastery in Gansu also staged a protest. Scattered gunfire was reported around Lhasa March 13. Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Qin Gang said the protesters are "seeking to spark social turmoil." He told a press conference: "This was carefully planned by the Dalai clique in a bid to separate Tibet and sabotage Tibetan people's normal life of stability and harmony." (The Guardian, March 13)