Clashes between police and demonstrators in Qinghai, two vehicles blown up
Dharamsala (AsiaNews/Agencies) - Clashes between dozens of demonstrators and the police yesterday in the prefecture of Golog, in the Tibetan section of Qinghai. In the early morning hours today, a police car and a fire truck were blown up. Security measures are at the maximum in Tibet and on the border, out of fear of protests for the 50th anniversary of the revolt on March 10, 1959, against Chinese domination.
The agency Xinhua reports that the protest erupted after the police stopped a resident for an identity check. It does not specify whether the demonstrators were Tibetans.
Meanwhile, security measures are at the maximum in Lhasa and in the other Tibetan cities. The police and army are patrolling the streets and checking anyone who is out in the open. The fear is that there could be a repeat of the protests that erupted on March 10, 2008, when thousands of demonstrators took to the streets in the entire region, and the Chinese army reacted violently, killing about 200 and arresting thousands of people. Controls have been stepped up on Tibet's borders, officially because of fear of attacks on the part of supporters of the Dalai Lama.
In China, there is also an aggressive campaign underway against the Dalai Lama, who is being depicted as a terrorist and a separatist. The Chinese occupation of Tibet is described as the liberation of the population from an elite theocratic dictatorship.
Joseph Cheng, professor of political science at the City University of Hong Kong, says that Beijing wants to leverage nationalist sentiment, in case of new protests in Tibet. Other experts maintain that this propaganda is a sign of insecurity.
The activist Shao Jiang of the Centre for the Study of Democracy, a former leader of the students during the protests in Tiananmen Square in 1989 and now in exile, wrote yesterday on his blog that "there are many Chinese who support the right to the self-determination of the Tibetan people." He also confirms that Chinese blogs have even posted public "apologies" to the Tibetans.
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