Report: Explosives found at Tibetan monasteries
BEIJING (AP) — Police seized explosives, a gun and banned Tibetan flags during searches of six monasteries in Tibetan areas of northwest China, a state news agency reported Tuesday.
The inspections were carried out Monday in Hezuo town of Gansu province, the Xinhua News Agency said. The town is in a Tibetan area that was the site of protests after Buddhist monk-led demonstrations in Tibet’s capital of Lhasa turned violent last month.
Separately, well-known Tibetan entertainer Jamyang Kyi was seized by Chinese security forces in the wake of last month’s anti-government protests, her husband Lamao Jia, told The Associated Press on Wednesday. He said she has not been seen since April 7.
U.S.-government supported Radio Free Asia cited unidentified sources in Beijing saying she had been formally arrested by police in the western city of Xining, although the charges were unknown.
The Chinese security services in recent weeks have been questioning large numbers of Tibetans who have traveled internationally, RFA said.
In the seizures, a gun, 22 pounds of dynamite, five detonators and seven knives were found at one major monastery in the town, Xinhua said, citing the provincial government. Five bullets were found in another.
In nearby Xiahe county, police seized 11 Tibetan national flags from four monasteries, the agency said.
China has previously reported seizing weapons from monasteries but does not offer proof besides police displays of guns and swords that were allegedly confiscated. The reports are impossible to verify.
But they build on Beijing’s claims that anti-government protests in Tibet and other parts of western China were part of a violent campaign by Tibet’s exiled spiritual leader, the Dalai Lama, and his supporters to overthrow Chinese rule in Tibet and sabotage the August’s Olympic Games in Beijing. The Dalai Lama has repeatedly denied the allegations.
Scholars say China’s accusations help the government justify its crackdown and demonize the opposition while driving a wedge between the government-in-exile and groups that have challenged the Dalai Lama’s policy of nonviolence.
Hundreds of Tibetans launched an anti-government protest in Hezuo last month. Demonstrators stormed a government compound shouting Free Tibet! and raised the banned Tibetan flag above a school yard.
Xinhua said 94 people were injured in violence from March 14-19 in Gannan, the prefecture in Gansu that includes Hezuo town. Groups associated with the government-in-exile of the Dalai Lama have said at least 19 Tibetans died in the government crackdown in Gansu province. E-mail to a friend
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