Overseas groups report new arrests in Tibetan areas

More than 100 ethnic Tibetans, including Buddhist monks and lay people, were detained following a protest.

A new protest broke out in a restive Tibetan region of western China, prompting wide-scale arrests and tightened security, local hotel workers and an activist group reported on Friday.

More than 100 ethnic Tibetans, including Buddhist monks and lay people, were detained following the protest on Thursday in Tongren county in Qinghai province, the Tibetan Center for Human Rights and Democracy reported.

Monks calling for the release of fellow Buddhist clergy were joined by local residents at a market, according to the center, based in the Indian town of Dharmsala, the seat of the Tibetan

government-in-exile.

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It said police rushed to the scene and began beating participants, despite efforts at mediation by a senior monk. Receptionists reached by phone at Tongren hotels confirmed the protest, saying a crowd had gathered near the local county offices.

“Today there’s no more protests. Those people were all seized,” one receptionist said. A woman at another hotel put the number of protesters in the dozens and said the local monastery of Rongwo had been closed to visitors.

Police and armed paramilitary police were checking identification cards and residency permits and imposed an overnight curfew, she said.

“Police even came to our hotel to check on people. No one was allowed outside after midnight,” she said. The women refused to give their names for fear of retaliation by authorities, who have reportedly offered rewards for information on people leaking news of protests and crackdowns to the outside.