March 10 in Tibet — Hundreds Protest Despite Danger

As Tibetans around the world commemorate the 49th anniversary of the Tibetan National Uprising, Radio Free Asia reports on brave protests in Tibet’s capital, Lhasa:

Chinese authorities in Tibet today detained dozens of Tibetan monks staging a rare protest march into the regional capital, Lhasa, on a key anniversary.

An authoritative source who declined to be identified told RFA’s Tibetan service as many as 300 monks set out from Drepung monastery outside Lhasa on the roughly 10-km (5-mile) walk into the city center. [...]

Authorities at a checkpoint along the way stopped and detained between 50 and 60 monks, the source said. Witnesses reported seeing about 10 military vehicles, 10 police vehicles, and several ambulances at the checkpoint. [...]

Another witness reported that official vehicles then blocked off access by road to Drepung monastery, and that many monasteries in and around Lhasa were surrounded by members of the paramilitary People’s Armed Police.

RFA reports that there was a separate, apparently uncoordinated, protest in Lhasa the same day:

Separately, witnesses reported that nine monks from another major monastery, Sera, and two laypeople staged a loud protest in front of the Tsuklakhang cathedral in central Lhasa, waving banners and shouting slogans.

Onlookers surrounded the 11 protesters, keeping security officers at a distance. People’s Armed Police officers later pushed through the crowd and detained them, the witnesses said.