80 more Tibetans arrested in Amdo Ngawa

On April 27, a group of 80 Tibetans from the neighboring Golog prefecture went to Ngaba in about 40 vehicles to show support for relatives enrolled as monks in the monastery, a Tibetan living in Ngaba said, speaking on condition of anonymity.“When they had traveled as far as the Gyatoe subdistrict in Upper Ngaba, Chinese security forces detained them,” he said.“Many of those Tibetans come from Chigdril [in Chinese, Jiuzhi] county, and are worried about their relatives at Kirti monastery. They have received no information about their present condition,” he said.

Armed Chinese police have been withdrawn from the monastery but are stationed nearby in camouflaged vehicles, he said, adding that security personnel in plain clothes are still present on the monastery grounds.

“These civilian police are harassing the monks and making their lives miserable,” he said

Meanwhile The Tibetan Center for Human Rights and Democracy (TCHRD) highlighted concerns for the safety of the 300 monks taken away to what the group called an unofficial detention center by police.

“The Center condemns the extreme violence employed by the Chinese security forces in quelling peaceful demonstrations in Tibet and especially in Ngaba county in recent days,” the group said in a news release.

“The so-called ‘patriotic re-education’ campaign in Kirti monastery should stop immediately, and the 300 monks transported to a black jail should be safely returned to their rightful place—Kirti monastery,” TCHRD said.

TCHRD said it is “extremely concerned” over the fate of the detained monks.

“The normal religious activities and spiritual studies of the Kirti monastery have been severely disturbed in the extreme security measures adopted by the Chinese law enforcement agencies,” the group said.