by Nirmala Carvalho

Adhue villagers decide to demonstrate against the local Communist officials, who wanted to reward two of their colleagues accused of stealing funds intended for the people. The protest was crushed by violence by the Armed People's Police.

Beijing (AsiaNews) - The Armed People's Police has repressed a peaceful demonstration by Tibetans demonstrating against the Qiang Autonomous Prefecture government, Sichuan Province, of by brute force.  The authorities are guilty of awarding two local officials who had stolen funds. About a hundred people were wounded, some seriously.

On 14 April, a group of Communist leaders of Ngaba County paid a visit to the village Adhue to reward two public officials, accused by the people of embezzling funds intended for low-income housing. During the visit, County officials also announced that the two were honored for having done a "good job".

By demonstrating, the Tibetans aimed to express their disapproval, soon however 10 police trucks arrived, unloading agents who, together with their leaders, began to beat the crowd: the trucks were driven away by County officials. Between 15 and 20 protesters were arrested, three were identified as Tenzin Tsering, Tsenor and Tsamchen, from Tsosum village. There whereabouts or conditions are currently unknown.

After the 2008 protests, the local government has appropriated a large area owned by the residents known as "Omaylue" used for Buddhist prayers meetings and community holidays: some locals had complained but were silenced. The government had promised to build at a hospice for the elderly, while it houses a large police barracks.

To avoid further protests, the government built around "Omaylue" - always on the grounds of the community - a series of small houses "to be allocated to the people." Only after the building residents discovered that they had to pay for a house, in fact to balance the accounts that had been emptied by the two leaders.

Since 2008 Tibet has been the scene of continued violence against the population. The central government has authorized the use of force to suppress local protests, seeking religious freedom and cultural autonomy. According to Beijing, they are incited by the Dalai Lama and his "clique", who want to destroy the unity of China. The protests against the corruption of the Party and government are now a common occurrence throughout the country.

 

• china
• tibet
• protest
• communist
• party
• corruption
• arrest
• police
• violence