Free Tibet protest in Vienna, AT (March 2012)
Hundreds of Tibetans who attended the 2012 Kalachakra ceremony in Bodh Gaya in January have reportedly been detained (held without charge) by Chinese security forces upon returning to Tibet — this according to friends and family living in exile. While some attendees have reportedly been released, others remain in detention, undergoing interrogations and “patriotic re-education” classes (according to a piece by Edward Wong in the New York Times). Detained at various locations, including hotels, military facilities and schools, these Tibetans are being ordered to denounce His Holiness the Dalai Lama, who presided over this year’s ceremony.
Such moves, the New York Times article points out, are likely only to further the divide between the Tibetans and Chinese. As readers know all too well, relations between the two are at an all-time low, with a growing number of self-immolation protests erupting inside of Tibet.
Photo by Luca Sartoni via Flickr, using a CC-BY-SA license.
