Today, it can incontrovertibly be said that the events of that day (10 March 2008) constituted the largest Tibetan uprising since 1959. The most striking element of the recent protests across Tibet was their spontaneous nature, and the manner in which they completely defied a repressive regime supported by heavy military forces. Unlike the September 1987 protest in Lhasa, and others that have followed in subsequent years, this year’s protests erupted across all traditional provinces of U-Tsang, Amdo and Kham, covering scores of counties.
In most cases, the starting point of the demonstrations was a prayer session or a peaceful demonstration, primarily lead by monks or nuns and generally joined by civilians. Progressively, the movement incorporated all strata Tibetan society, including students from middle schools to universities, religious institutions and civilians from small villages to big cities.
The messages are the same each time: “long live the Dalai Lama; independence and freedom for Tibet; let the Dalai Lama return; democracy and human lives are precious; Tibetans should be granted freedom and independence through peaceful dialogue; may the exiles and Tibetans inside Tibet be reunited”.
In order to highlight the magnitude of the protests, TCHRD has compiled a list of events and subsequent arrests in a chronological order from 10 March 2008 till 21 July 2008. To give an image as complete as possible of what is currently happening in Tibet, the compilation includes information from our own sources and those of others, but TCHRD disclaims that this documentation has a complete lists of all the relevant events that have taken place in Tibet since 10 March 2008.
Download the full report here.