China's attempt to 're-educate' monks sparks deadly riot

China vowed today to ramp up its controversial “patriotic education” campaign for monks even though the latest deadly protests in Tibetan areas were sparked by deep resentment over its enforcement.

The Tibet Daily newspaper reported today the government has pledged to “strengthen patriotic education,” which requires monks to denounce their spiritual leader, the Dalai Lama, and declare their loyalty to Beijing.

“We should strengthen patriotic education so as to guide the masses of monks to continuously display the patriotic tradition and uphold the banner of patriotism,” the paper quoted Hao Peng, Tibet’s deputy Communist Party chief, as saying.

“Especially step up education in the law among young monks in order to let them become patriotic, religion-loving and law-abiding monks,” he said.

But government efforts to impose the compulsory classes at monasteries helped ignite the latest round of deadly protests on Thursday in south-western Sichuan province, where eight people were killed, activist groups said. State media reported one government official was seriously injured in what it called a riot.

The incident was sparked when a team of government officials attempted to enforce “patriotic education” at the Tongkor monastery in the Garze Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture, according to the London-based Free Tibet Campaign and the International Campaign for Tibet.

The monks refused to criticise the Dalai Lama, so thousands of paramilitary troops searched the monastery for pictures of the exiled Tibetan leader. Two monks were detained after his pictures were found in their quarters.

Troops opened fire on a crowd of several hundred Buddhist monks and several hundred more citizens who had marched on local government offices in Donggu town to demand the release of the monks, the activist groups said.

The US government-funded Radio Free Asia said it had unconfirmed reports that up to 15 people were killed and dozens more wounded in the violence.

The official Xinhua News Agency had no information on deaths or injuries but confirmed a riot broke out near government offices in Donggu. An official was “attacked and seriously wounded,” and police were “forced to fire warning shots and put down the violence,” Xinhua said.

Calls to local police and hospitals in the area were unanswered today or else officials said they had no information.

The reports indicate that unrest is continuing in China’s Tibetan areas despite a massive security presence in place since violent anti-government demonstrations broke out in mid-March in Tibet’s capital, Lhasa, and neighbouring provinces.

The protests are the longest and most sustained challenge to China’s 57-year rule in the Himalayan region. China’s subsequent crackdown has drawn international scrutiny and criticism in the run-up to this summer’s Olympic Games.

Chinese authorities say 22 people died in anti-Beijing riots that broke out March 14 in Lhasa. The Tibetan government-in-exile says up to 140 were killed in the protests and ensuing crackdown.

Beijing has accused Dalai Lama supporters of orchestrating the violence, a charge the spiritual leader has repeatedly denied.

The Tibetan Centre for Human Rights and Democracy, based in India, announced that two monks committed suicide last month in Sichuan’s Aba County following government oppression. Aba County has been the scene of large protests involving hundreds of monks and citizens.

One monk, identified as Lobsang Jinpa, from the Aba Kirti Monastery killed himself March 27, leaving a signed note saying, “I do not want to live under Chinese oppression even for a minute,” the group said.

The second suicide occurred March 30 at the Aba Gomang Monastery when a 75-year-old monk named Legtsok took his life, telling his followers he “can’t beat the oppression anymore,” it said.

It was impossible to verify the information since Chinese authorities have banned foreign reporters from travelling to the region.

In India, police arrested 17 Tibetan exiles as they attempted to march from the remote Himalayan region of Ladakh in northern India into Tibet, according to local official M.K. Bhandari. Ladakh is home to about 7,000 Tibetan exiles.

The exiles were detained for violating a law that prohibits entry into sensitive border areas.

Also today, state media reported more than 1 million people had signed an online Chinese petition alleging Western media bias in covering the Tibetan protests.

The petition alleges that some Western media organisations, including CNN and BBC, have reported “untrue and distorted” stories on the Lhasa riots.