After days of unrest and protests in Ngaba County since 15 March, which saw the death of at least 23 Tibetans, arrest and injury of over hundreds, the Chinese People’s Armed Police (PAP) and Public Security Bureau (PSB) forces arrested over a hundred monks from Ngaba Kirti Monastery during a raid of the monastery this afternoon, according to confirmed information received by the Tibetan Centre for Human Rights and Democracy (TCHRD).
Earlier this morning, hundreds of PAP and PSB came to Ngaba Kirti Monastery, dispersed people, mostly devotees, visitors gathered around the monastery compound and ordered surrounding shops to shut down.
At around 12 noon (Beijing Standard time), PAP and PSB forces stormed into Ngaba Kirti Monastery, in Ngaba County (Ch: Aba Xian), Ngaba “TAP” Sichuan Province. At first the PAP and PSB forces barred the monks of Ngaba Kirti Monastery from venturing out of their rooms, followed by a sudden raid carried out in each and every monk’s room, ransacking any portraits of the Dalai Lama and looking for any incriminating documents. At around 5:00 PM (Beijing Standard Time) at least a hundred monks were known to have been forcibly taken away by the armed forces to Ngaba County PSB Detention Centre after the raid. The current atmosphere inside the Kirti Monastery is known to be very tense and volatile.
According to the latest information from Tibet, sandbag barricades were erected by People’s Armed Police (PAP) around the Kirti Monastery and surroundings area to curb the fresh outbreak of protest by the local residents of Ngaba County.
TCHRD condemns in strongest terms the Chinese security forces highhandedness in dealing with monks by arbitrarily arresting monks without formal charges and ransacking the monastic institution