Monks slash their wrists at Tibet demonstrations

From St Petersburg News – Two Tibetan Buddhist monks are in critical condition after slitting their wrists amid mounting anti-Chinese protests in the Tibetan capital, Lhasa.

Two monks from Drepung monastery on the outskirts of Lhasa attempted suicide and were hospitalised in critical condition.

Monks at another major Lhasa monastery have meanwhile launched a hunger strike aimed at pressuring the Chinese authorities as protests against China’s heavy-handed presence in the region spread to other Tibetan Buddhist convents and monasteries.

Some monks are on hunger strike and have vowed not to eat and sleep unless their demands are met.

The monks are demanding the withdrawal of paramilitary People’s Armed Police forces from the monastery compound and the release of monks detained during an earlier protest on March 10th, the source said.

Local sources, all of whom have declined to be identified, have reported additional protests at Reting monastery, north of Lhasa, and at Gaden monastery.

Authorities in the Tibet Autonomous Region have also warned Tibetans employed as civil servants to stay away from monasteries and convents.

On Tuesday, armed Chinese police fired tear-gas to disperse a crowd of several hundred protesting monks near Lhasa.

The protests began Monday when hundreds of monks staged a rare demonstration on the 49th anniversary of a 1959 uprising crushed by the Chinese People’s Liberation Army.

The Dalai Lama, now 72, subsequently fled into exile in northern India.

Chinese police have mobilised Lhasa neighborhood committees to inspect every household in predominantly Tibetan areas of the city, searching for unregistered monks or nuns sheltering illicitly in private homes.

Tensions have been escalating in recent years in traditionally Tibetan areas of what is now western China, with Chinese authorities taking a tougher line against what they regard as resistance to Chinese rule.

The Dalai Lama is regarded by China as a dangerous figure seeking independence for his homeland, although he says he wants only autonomy and for Chinese repression of Tibetans to end.