Clashes in Tibet after US award to Dalai Lama

Breaking news…

From the AFP Exiles say clashes in Tibet after US award to Dalai Lama

DHARAMSALA, India (AFP) — Chinese police used force to suppress Buddhist monks’ celebrations in Tibet’s capital of a hugely controversial US award for the Dalai Lama, exile groups in India said.

They said police arrested scores of monks and Tibetan activists, over four days in Lhasa last week, who attempted to celebrate the awarding of the United States’ highest civilian honour on the exiled spiritual leader.

The clashes were centred at the Drepung and Nechung monasteries in Lhasa which were sealed to keep the thousands of monks inside and away from the public, according to sources in the Tibetan government-in-exile who did not wish to be named.

and from the Times Online UK: Tibetan monks beaten as police halt dissent

Dozens of monks had begun repainting with whitewash the exterior of a hall assigned as the residence of the Dalai Lama inside Drepung to show their joy after the US Congress awarded its highest civilian honour, personally bestowed by President Bush in Washington last week.

Members of the paramilitary People’s Armed Police moved in to stop the monks, who left peacefully to take part in morning prayers. When the monks returned to resume painting the police moved in again, resulting in violent scuffles, according to sources who declined to be identified for fear of repercussions. The Hong Kong newspaper Ming Pao said that the clash involved hundreds of monks.

Stay tuned here and check Phayul.com for more information as we have it, as well as our plan for a reaction to China’s typically oppressive crackdown.