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DOSSIER: Tibet protest in Kathmandu

Posted by Guus Koelman on April 15th, 2008 | 15 comments | 754 views
Police hit nuns during Tibet protest Kathmandu

The Nepalese police used their bamboo batons to hit protesting nuns during a rally outside the UN house in Kathmandu. The protest was held on the 21st of April against Chinese oppression in Tibet.









Around 130 demonstrators were arrested this day. The Tibetans in Nepal have been staging regular protests in the capital against the Chinese. Human Rights Watch expressed their concern about the situation in Nepal in a statement released on the 20th of April:

“As protests over China’s abuses of Tibetans intensify in Nepal’s capital, Kathmandu, police continue to arbitrarily arrest, detain, and mistreat record numbers of Tibetans in violation of their rights to freedom of expression and assembly.”

Read the full statement here:

http://hrw.org/english/docs/2008/04/20/nepal18602.htm

In this photo you see a human rights watch official pleading towards a Nepali police officer not to arrest the unconscious monk. To no avail, the monk was arrested and taken to a hospital were he got released later that day.






Notice the footprint on his arm.






Tibetan protest outside Chinese embassy

About a hundred Tibetans were arrested outside the Chinese embassy on the 16th of April. The Tibetan monks, nuns and civilians wanted to protest peacefully against the Chinese in Tibet but were taken away by the Nepalese police.










Many protesters fainted because of the heat and emotions.









This was the second protest outside the embassy sins the elections. The Tibetans held of the protest during the elections because they did not want to contribute to the instability of the country.

There are more than 20.000 Tibetans living in Nepal, many of them without a passport.






Tibetans protest with candle procession Kathmandu

More than 1000 people protested in Kathmandu on the 14th of April against the Chinese in Tibet. The Tibetans walked and prayed peacefully round the Swayambhunath temple with candles, carrying pictures of the Dalai Lama and peacesigns.

Nepal’s government has been criticized for not letting the Tibetans protest against the Chinese. On Monday the police did not intervene in the peaceful march.







S(h)ave Tibet

About 200 Tibetans shaved their head in a mass shaving ceremony on the 6th of April.

The ceremony took place in Boudha, the Tibetan area in Kathmandu and was a symbolic protest against Chinese actions in Tibet.

Men, monks, nuns and children lost their hair, as you can see in the following photo report.









PORTRAIT OF A TIBETAN EXILE





Photo/Audioshow


This is Ngulchu Tulku, 29, born in India. He is the reincarnation of the tutor of the 10th Pancen Lama. His reincarnation is personally recognized by the Dalai Lama.

In his previous life he was killed by the Chinese, he says that this makes him not afraid to die for Tibet again. A country where he has never been.

Being such an important incarnation makes him a leader in the daily protests against the Chinese in Kathmandu. He is not for a Free Tibet, but supports the Dalai Lama in his “middle way solution”. He is primarily concerned with the human right situation in Tibet.






In the previous weeks he was arrested 13th times. On April the 3rd he got arrested in front of the Chinese Embassy and taken into custody. He had to stay until the next day, when he and about 60 others were released.





In custody the Tibetans got threatened with violence and deportation by a drunken police inspector. During the night they were not given any blackest. You can hear about this in the video.

Ngulchu is one of the leaders of the ‘hunger strike group’. They decided to stop protesting in front of the embassy and UN house because of the political situation in Nepal. The elections are within a week and he does not want to contribute to the instability of the country.

He and other members of the group are under pressure from their families. They are afraid that the Chinese will kidnap them and take them back to China. Ngulchu’s family already sent members back to India where they are more safe.

Ngulchu is not afraid for himself but he is afraid for his family. He however does not like to walk in the streets at night because he is afraid the Chinese will kidnap him. He does not have a passport, he is registered as a refugee.





The hunger strike group decided to stop protesting in front of the embassy and the UN House but this does not mean that they will stop with their actions. They are thinking about planning another hunger strike. Not until death, the Dalai Lama forbade this.

April 5 S(h)ave Tibet

The protests in front of the Chinese embassy stopped for a while and the members of the hunger strike group are looking for different ways to protest against violence in Tibet.

Out of protest, the (male) members of the hunger strike group shaved their heads.

People in Tibet are dying, loosing my hair is nothing compared to that, one of the members explained.






HUMAN RIGHTS WATCH CONCERNED ABOUT TIBETANS RIGHTS NEPAL

About 90 Tibetans were arrested on Tuesday outside the Chinese embassy in Kathmandu. Protests in Kathmandu against Chinese violence are ongoing sins violence erupted in Lhasa three weeks ago.








Human Rights Watch expressed concern about the Tibetan rights in Nepal in a letter to the Nepalese Prime Minister they write:

“The Nepal police have arbitrarily arrested and detained over 1,500 people both during and since the demonstrations and in order to restrict expression and movement. The Police have provided no legal justification for the arrests and detentions either to detainees or to national and international human rights organizations. The Home Ministry has explicitly stated that no “anti-China activities” will take place in Nepal.

Our organizations have documented unnecessary and excessive use of force during arrests, as well as ill treatment during arrests and detention. We are particularly concerned by increasing evidence of police use of sexual and other forms of assault, including of minors, during arrests, violating the right to physical integrity. Police have also used lathis and tear gas on some occasions without necessity or with excessive force, resulting in numerous injuries. Direct interviews with detainees also suggest a pattern of delayed and limited medical treatment, misleading detainees about their likely time of release, and beatings in Boudha and Singha Durba police stations.

Police have also threatened Tibetan protesters with deportation, which would also constitute a serious violation of Nepal’s international human rights obligations.”

Read the complete letter here:

http://hrw.org/english/docs/2008/04/01/nepal18409.htm

MONKS AND NUNS ARRESTED BEATEN AT CHINESE CONSULATE KATHMANDU

Video of the bus ride up to the embassy and the violence the monks and nuns had to endure.






About 100 Buddhist monks, nuns and Tibetans were arrested at the Chinese consulate on the 30th of March. The protesters almost reached it to the door of the embassy before they were chased away by the police and arrested. The police used their batons to spread the protesters.



Members of the hunger strike group were at the protest as well. I met them at a prayer meeting in Boudha where they planned the action for the day.







We left in a taxi for the consulate and we drove trough Kathmandu for a while. The group had to stop at a certain point where the protesters regrouped. A bus was arranged and we drove a couple of minutes then we picked up a group of about 40 nuns and drove to a different meeting point.






Here the total group of about 80 monks nuns and protesters assembled and the group split up in two buses. Inside the bus the nuns and monks tried to keep a low profile by sitting on the ground and covering themselves. If the police see a large group of monks they might arrest them.





After a trip of about one hour the group of protesters arrived at the backside of the embassy.






The protesters managed to get almost to the entrance but were chased away by the police using their batons. The monks, nuns and other protesters were arrested and taken away to jail.






TIBETAN PROTESTERS CLIMB WALL UN HOUSE KATHMANDU

A group of about 20 protesters managed to get into the UN building in Kathmandu on the 28th of March to protest against the Chinese actions in Tibet. They managed to climb over a wall and enter the compound. Inside they handed letters to the UN officials.

The Nepali police wanted the protesters to be handed over to them but this did not happen. I spoke to Lodroe Nyima who was with the group that made it inside the UN house and he told me that he was not arrested by the police. Lodroe is a 13 year old Tibetan refugee living in Boudha.

Journalists were not allowed to film or photograph the protests, as you can see in the video. Security personal blocked their view and pushed the camera’s away.



[



Protests outside the UN building were not tolerated by the Nepalese police. The protesters were arrested with force and taken away. About 40 protesters were taken to an army hospital in Kathmandu. I was able to talk to Yeshi Gyaltse, one of the detainees who was allowed to use his mobile phone in custody. He told me that some of the detainees were 15, 16 years of age.







Human Right Watch expressed concern about the treatment of Tibetans in Nepal. In a press release issued on the 27th of March they state that: The government of Nepal should end arbitrary detention, threats and harassment against peaceful Tibetan protesters. Brad Adams who is the Asia director at Human Rights Watch said that “The threat of detention and deportation to China is being used by the government of Nepal to silence peaceful dissent,” He also said that “Police have used excessive force to disperse some protesters and to arrest others, while beating some of those in detention.”







The members of the hunger strike group were not beaten in custody but were threatened with deportation. Ngulchu Tulku talks about this on his way to protest at the Chinese Embassy in Kathmandu on the 27th of March. You can see this in this video.

TIBETAN PROTESTERS ARRESTED AT CHINESE CONSULATE

Video of the ride up to the consulate and the arrest:





A group of about 20 Tibetan protesters was arrested outside the Chinese consulate in Kathmandu on Thursday 27 March. The group tried to reach the consulate but was stopped by the Nepalese police at about 100 meters from the consulate.







They wanted to protest peacefully against Chinese violence in Tibet but were not allowed to and were arrested. There have been protests in Nepal almost every day since unrest began in Lhasa. The home spokesman Mod raj Dottel told the AFP press agency that anti-China protests are not allowed in Nepal and that Nepal recognizes a ‘one China’.





It is not one single Tibetan group that is protesting against the Chinese in Kathmandu but there are many different groups. I joined the ‘hunger strike group’ in Boudha. A Tibetan village close to Kathmandu. When I met them they were preparing their banners, contacting other groups and discussing the current situation of Tibet with CNN on the background.







The members of this group were all arrested before, some of them six times already. They were beaten and inhaled teargas at previous actions. They knew that they would be arrested this time as well. This did not stop them. They told me that they wanted to keep on the struggle until the end. Even if this means dying.





Leaving Boudha was a problem, police were all around the area. This meant that monks could not travel in their usual clothing to the protest march but they had to change. If the police see a group of monks in a car they suspect that they go to a protest march and the monks would be in trouble.





We left without the monks and took a taxi towards the Chinese embassy. We stopped at a parking lot close to the embassy and waited for the other groups to arrive. About 20 people showed up among them a few monks with civilian clothing on, a few students and a few elderly ladies. When everybody was ready they walked to the embassy.






About 100 meters before the embassy the group was stopped by the police. The members in the group pleaded with the police to let them trough but to no avail. All the people in the hunger strike group got arrested and most of the other members of the protest march as well. They were taken in a police van and transported to a police station.








HUNGER STRIKE TIBETAN REFUGEE CAMP KATHMANDU

About 50 people at the Jawlakhel Tibetan Camp in Kathmandu refused to eat for 24 hours and a group of about 10 men stopped eating for 48 hours. The hunger strike was a protest against the Chinese violence in Tibet.





Protests against the Chinese spread in Tibet in the last week. Chinese security forces killed protesters during these riots and several media reported that Chinese citizens were also killed by Tibetan mobs. The Chinese locked down Tibet almost completely making it difficult for journalists to verify reports.

About 12 thousand Tibetan exiles live in Nepal, many of them in Kathmandu. The hunger strike was organized by the regional Tibetan youth congress and the Tibetan woman association.








Candles were lit to remember the people who were killed in Tibet by the Chinese authority.





Instead of the Olympic rings these rings symbolize bullet holes shot by Chinese rifles.






The Daly Lama offered to resign if the violence in Tibet worsened. He is opposed to violence and only supports non violence protest. I spoke to a woman at the rally about this and she said that for many young people this won’t do any more. They want free Tibet and they are willing to fight for it.





The Chinese claim that the Dalai Lama and his people masterminded the protest trying to undermine the Olympics in August. The unrest in Tibet has put extra international attention on the Chinese human rights record.




Comments

# posted by la rafale on May 14th, 2008 8:45 pm
well, Guus,what's going on? and where are you now? since almost one month, no pics and no news from you! hope you feel good and carry on with your trip..
regards
brigitte (la rafale)
# posted by giz on April 24th, 2008 12:27 am
Thanks Guus, for showing.
# posted by Ruden Fretsbo on April 23rd, 2008 7:55 pm
Extraordinary report in all senses, please go on with this fantastic work!
# posted by ortho158 on April 23rd, 2008 3:17 pm
# posted by Guus Koelman on April 23rd, 2008 1:55 pm
Hello Alain,

Could you explain to me why you think my blog became a “pamphlet” against China? If anything, I would like to show the way the Nepalese police treat peaceful Tibetan protestors…

Please reply, I am interested and would like to start a discussion.

Guus
# posted by ortho158 on April 23rd, 2008 9:34 am
Hi Guus. First of all, I did not know you are a journalist, and I really did not want ot offend you. It's just that you started a great blog about India, and I expected it would continue in the same vein, and not as a pamphlet against China (although I agree that China's attitude should be condemnded). alain
# posted by Guus Koelman on April 23rd, 2008 8:45 am
Frankly Ortho, I don’t force you to take a look at my photos. There is plenty of photography besides mine to look at on Woophy. I am a journalist, this is my story and I want to tell it.

I think that this is especially important since the big networks left.
# posted by ortho158 on April 23rd, 2008 8:22 am
I liked your first posts (those before Nepal), but I frankly think that 142 pics (as of today) on the Tibet problem is way too much.
# posted by Gaurav Dhwaj Khadka on April 23rd, 2008 3:17 am
Hi! Guus,
Kathmandu have more interesting thing to photographs than of ONLY Tibetan protest photographs.

Hope you show us all other beautiful things of Kathmandu.

Peace,
Gaurav Dhwaj Khadka
# posted by catkiller on April 23rd, 2008 1:00 am
Thanks Guus! Thanks for showing the world what's happening in Tibet. Free Tibet! Enough of China abusing Human rights!
# posted by paradissatravel on April 15th, 2008 10:22 am
Let's fight for the independent Tibet!
# posted by maxphotofun on April 11th, 2008 1:20 am
Guus, thanks for sharing this story and the great photos. I love the S(h)ave Tibet title! LOL ;-)
# posted by Giliam Jeroen Smit on April 8th, 2008 10:43 pm
Hoi Guus,

Hoe gaat het met je?

Van trouwerijen en cricket naar Tibetaanse protesten...
Je foto's zijn uitzonderlijk mooi en goed, ze spreken voor zich. Wat niet betekent dat je bijschriften niets toevoegen. Integendeel, ze zijn erg informatief, interessant en leuk om te lezen. Hoewel 'leuk' een beetje een vreemd woord is in sommige context...

Het ga je goed, be safe

Giliam
# posted by Ormond on April 8th, 2008 1:07 pm
This is excellent. Some people say that Woophy is not Political. This is Human rights are often a pltitical issue and it is VERY GOOD that we are showen these pictures. I hope all people who live under occupation will one day have their freedom. THANK YOU GUUS FOR ALL YOUR EFFORTS TO BRING THE REAL WORLD TO ME. I HOPE YOU WILL BE SAFE.
# posted by Gaurav Dhwaj Khadka on April 5th, 2008 3:08 am
Well Capture.

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