people’s armed police

13/12/2013 News

Video exposé of PAP violence reinforces Tibetan grievances

PAP soldiers arrive in Diru County in October 2013 to clamp down on protests staged by Tibetans. (Photo: RFA)

Earlier this year, TCHRD released a manual from the People’s Armed Police (PAP) that described how many members of the PAP are suffering from nightmares and flashbacks as a result of the treatment they inflicted upon Tibetans in 2008. Now, a video of eight senior PAP firefighters beating five young recruits in Inner Mongolia has gone viral in the PRC.

The over 15-minute long video shows the young PAP officers being beaten while forced to stand at attention. They are slapped, punched and kicked. One victim was kicked by two of his abusers while he lay on the ground. Others are kneed, knocked against a wall, and have their heads slammed against the wall. The senior members of the PAP also beat the victims with belts and sticks that they broke over the victim’s heads. After seven minutes some of the victims clearly had trouble getting back to their feet and standing.

17/07/2013 News

More injured by gunshots than earlier reported in Tawu

Smoke from incense and juniper leaves fill the air as Tawu Tibetans celebrate Dalai Lama’s birthday on 6 July.

New information from Tibet sheds light on important details related to 6 July shootings, beatings and teargassing by China’s People’s Armed Police (PAP) forces in Tawu (Ch: Daofu/Dawu) County on the 78^th birthday of His Holiness the Dalai Lama in Kardze (Ch: Ganzi) Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture, Sichuan Province. (Click here for our previous report on Tawu shootings.)

According to information received by TCHRD, on the afternoon of 6 July armed police detained 18 Tibetans from a bridge on the foothills of Machen Pomra mountain, en route to the famous Tawu Nogen Stupa (Tib: Tawu Nogen Chorten). Out of them, 14 have sustained gunshot wounds and are receiving treatment. There is no death reported yet although the injured are not out of danger.

TCHRD has identified a few more injured Tibetans. Yama Tsering, 72, was severely beaten and got four of his ribs broken. Another Tibetan man, Dekyi Gonpo aka Goleb has become deaf in one ear due to beatings.

11/07/2013 News

Senior monk among the latest identified in Tawu shootings

Warning: This post contains graphic images.

An undated photograph of Chanzoe Tsewang Choephel, a senior monk and staff at Nyatso Monastery. — An undated photograph of Tsewang Choephel, a senior monk and staff at Nyatso Monastery.

Tsewang Choephel, a senior monk and administrative staff (Tib: chanzoe) at Nyatso Monastery, is the latest Tibetan to be identified among those injured in Chinese People’s Armed Police (PAP) firing on 6 July.

According to information and photographs received by TCHRD, senior monk Tsewang Choephel was shot at multiple times on his hands and legs. His condition is critical. With Tsewang Choephel’s identification, the number of the injured in PAP firing has increased to ten, including a layman Ugyen Tashi who was shot with eight bullets.

The beatings, shootings and teargassing in Tawu led to the violent disruption of an otherwise peaceful religious ceremony observed to celebrate the 78^th birthday of the Tibetan spiritual leader, His Holiness the Dalai Lama. The scale and extent of the Tawu shootings appear to overshadow another brutal shootings in January 2012 in Drango (Ch: Luhuo) County.

09/07/2013 News

Tibetans in critical condition after Chinese armed police shoot into crowd celebrating Dalai Lama’s birthday

Gyen Tashi Sonam was shot in his head; receives treatment in a hospital in Dartsedo.

Several known Tibetans are in critical condition and many more injured after Chinese armed police fired into a crowd of Tibetans gathered to celebrate the 78^th birthday of His Holiness the Dalai Lama on 6 July in Tawu (Ch: Daofu) County in Kardze (Ch: Ganzi) Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture, Sichuan Province.

According to information received by TCHRD, at least nine Tibetans have sustained serious gunshot wounds and are believed to be in critical condition. Many others, both monastic and lay Tibetans, whose exact numbers cannot be determined immediately, have been injured after paramilitary forces from People’s Armed Police (PAP) lobbed teargas shells and beat them. The injured are mostly monks from Nyatso Monastery, nuns from Geden Choeling Nunnery and a considerable number of lay Tibetans in Tawu County.

Gyen Tashi Sonam, a monk and teacher at Nyatso Monastery, who was shot in his head, is being treated along with others at a hospital in Dartsedo (Ch: Kangding) County.

18/06/2013 News

Guest Post: Placing psychiatric health manual of Chinese armed police in Tibet in context

Front cover of the PAP handbook on mental health

The Tibetan Center for Human Rights and Democracy (TCHRD) recently received and published a summary of a manual it published by the Sichuan Provincial Political Department of the People’s Armed Police Force. The manual consists of 29 questions and answers on how the People’s Armed Police Force can cope with the psychological trauma caused by the violent nature of the People’s Armed Police Force in Tibetan areas of Sichuan. TCHRD presents an analysis of the manual by Matthew Akester.

Matthew Akester is a translator of classical and modern literary Tibetan with 25 years of experience as an independent researcher throughout the Tibetan world. He has worked as a consultant and contributor for the Tibet Information Network, Human Rights Watch, Tibet Heritage Fund, and Tibetan Buddhist Resource Center. He is an advisor, editor, and translator for countless publications on Tibet in English, French, and Tibetan.

13/05/2013 News

‘Weakness of the Oppressor’ : Leaked document exposes psychological traumas faced by Chinese armed police in Tibet

Front cover of the PAP manual manual on mental health — Front cover of the PAP manual on mental health

TCHRD has received a Chinese language copy of a manual published by the Sichuan Provincial Political Department of the People’s Armed Police Force (PAPF, also called PAP), titled “Guide on Psychiatric Wellbeing While Maintaining Stability” that was circulated among different contingents, detachments and squadrons located at the province, prefecture, and county levels of Sichuan. The manual contains issues raised during a videoconference meeting held by Sichuan Province People’s Armed Police Force regarding the psychological and moral issues arising from stability maintenance work in Tibetan areas. Although the manual was drafted before Xi Jinping’s appointment earlier this year, there is no sign that he will change any of his predecessor’s policies regarding Tibet.

23/08/2011 News

Three Tibetans arrested in Tawu

According to confirmed information received today, three Tibetans from Tawu (Ch: Daofu) County in Kardze Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture, Sichuan Province, had been arrested recently by Public Security Bureau (PSB) officers. On 19 August, a Tibetan man named Norbu from Rinah Lungpa village of Tawu was arrested in Siyo near Chengdu. Moreover, Gyaltsen from Nyeshap village, was arrested on 21 August while he coming out of a hospital in Chengdu city where he was accompanying a relative for treatment. The third Tibetan who was arrested on 22 August remains unidentified. The charges against them, their present condition and whereabouts remain unknown.

20/02/2009 News

Lithang under siege days after the protest

According to the latest information received by the Tibetan Centre for Human Rights and Democracy (TCHRD), Chinese authorities in Lithang County have significantly beefed up security measures by bringing more forces amidst severe restriction imposed on the movement of the people in Lithang following days of protests.

According to sources, “hundreds of People’s Armed Police (PAP) -a paramilitary force- in full combat gears has arrived in Lithang County in the past couple of days following protest by Tibetans in the area. Severe restrictions are being put on the movement of the people in Lithang. People from villages and monasteries were told not to move out of their houses and warn of serious consequences if they come out in the street. All the shops, and restaurants remain closed with streets bearing complete deserted look except for the hundreds of security forces in full combat gears. The situation is very tense in Lithang at the moment.”

16/03/2008 News

At least seven shot dead in demonstration in Ngaba County

According to the latest confirmed information received by the Tibetan Centre for Human Rights and Democracy (TCHRD), at least seven people were known to have been shot dead including monks of Ngaba Kirti Monastery by the People’s Armed Police (PAP) during the peaceful demonstration by thousands of people in Ngaba County (Ch: Aba) this afternoon. Hundreds of people are also known to have been injured in the incident following PAP crackdown on the protestors. The demonstration is still going on when the Centre received the information from the venue of demonstration.

The demonstration started around 11.30 AM (Beijing Time), when thousands of Tibetan monks of Amdo Ngaba Kirti Monastery, in Ngaba County (Ch: Aba), Ngaba “Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture” (“TAP”) Sichuan Province, gathered for a prayer session this

16/09/2007 News

China conducts massive ‘patriotic education’ campaign in Lithang

Tibetan Centre for Human Rights and Democracy (TCHRD) received confirmed information that the Chinese government has just unleashed a massive patriotic political campaign in Lithang.

According to confirmed information, in the first week of September 2007, the Chinese government summoned the leaders of townships and monasteries in and around Lithang to commence the Patriotic Political Education Campaign.

Similarly, the concerned offices and officials summoned the Tibetan people from the Lithang Monastery to receive political education. The Tibetan people were made to learn by the Chinese officials about how the aristocrats, officials and serfs of the old pre-1959 Tibet subjected the Tibetan commoners to oppression, torture and servitude. The campaign included telling Tibetans how the Chinese liberation of Tibet has empowered the Tibetan commoners to rise up and to hold denunciation sessions (Tib: Thamzing) to those serfs who had oppressed and suppressed them.

13/10/2006 News

Illegitimate killing on Nangpa La pass by Chinese police

The Tibetan Centre for Human Rights and Democracy (TCHRD) condemns the recent shooting of Tibetan refugees by the Chinese People’s Armed Police (PAP).

Thirty refugees were arrested after continuing to flee. Fourteen of these were children, the youngest of whom is five years old. Of the refugees who were not injured or arrested, some are missing, whilst 41 (27 minors below eighteen years) have reached Kathmandu, Nepal, where they are under the protection of the United Nations High Commission for Refugees.