Author:
Publication: The Times of India
Date: August 4, 2007
Scores of people have been arrested in a traditionally
Tibetan area of western China following public calls for the return of Tibet's
exiled spiritual leader, the Dalai Lama, reports said Friday.
Police and army reinforcements were sent to
the town of Lithang in western Sichuan province following the incident on
Wednesday at an annual horse festival that attracts thousands of people, according
to the overseas monitoring group International Campaign for Tibet and the
US governmentsupported Radio Free Asia.
The reports said a local man, Runggye Adak,
was detained after he climbed onto a stage erected for Chinese officials,
grabbed a microphone and asked the crowd if they wanted the Dalai Lama to
return. Hundreds responded with a roaring yes, the reports said. According
to witnesses quoted by RFA, Runggye Adak climbed onto the festival stage and
said: "If we cannot invite the Dalai Lama home, we will not have freedom
of religion and happiness in Tibet." He also called for the freedom of
the Panchen Lama, Gendun Choekyi Nyima and Tenzin Deleg Rinpoche, a senior
and respected lama from the area who is serving a life sentence for alleged
involvement in bombing offences.
A crowd later gathered a detention centre
to appeal for Runggye Adak's release. Officers fired warning shots to disperse
the group. RFA said about 200 Tibetans were detained following the protest,
but gave no indication of whether they were still in custody. International
Campaign for Tibet said additional arrests were reported, but gave no figures
or estimates. Agencies
