Suppression Continues in Tibetan Temple After Lhasa Massacre

Suppression Continues in Tibetan Temple After Lhasa Massacre
5/14/2008
Updated:
5/14/2008

Beijing’s armed police searched and arrested over 100 monks from the Longwu Temple located in Tongren County, Qinghai Province. Although the government’s suppression of Tibetans seems to have quieted down, there are still police stationed in the temple and a dozen monks detained.

A monk from the temple described the current situation to RFA on May 9. On April 17, monks in Longwu Temple held a peaceful demonstration. The armed police came in and arrested about 150 monks.

One of the monks, Khasog Renpoche, was severely injured during the suppression and hospitalized. He was injured on the head, shoulders, and abdomen. Authorities took Renpoche to a hospital in Xining City, Qinghai. Since then, Renpoche’s whereabouts have been unknown. According to the Central Tibetan Administration (CTA), after the authorities suppressed Tibetans, Renpoche quit all his positions inside the government.

A monk from Longwu Temple who wishes to remain anonymous told RFA that basically life in the temple has returned to normal. The armed police have left and a special team was sent in to make sure the monks study the officially arranged curriculum.

Gesang of the emergency coordination group of the CTA commented on the armed police moving out of the temple, “There are armed police stationed in that area, if there is anything [happening in the temple], the police can quickly get there.”

The Longwu Temple was built during the Yuan Dynasty and had over 2,000 monks at its peak time. According to the CTA, the special team the authorities sent in after police left demanded that the monks denounce the Dalai Lama, causing many monks to leave the temple.