Reports: Protesting Tibetans beaten, jailed in western China

By JERUSALEM POST STAFF
Police beat and detained dozens of ethnic Tibetans during the latest protest in a restive region of western China, sparked when monks demanded the release of fellow clergy, according to residents and an activist group. The reports came Friday, a day after authorities clamped down quickly following the protest in Qinghai province's Tongren county, imposing an overnight curfew while police and paramilitary officers checked ID cards and residency permits, a hotel receptionist said. Crowds gathered Thursday in Tongren county after shoppers at a market joined Buddhist monks calling for the release of fellow clergy, the Tibetan Center for Human Rights and Democracy said. A senior monk sought to mediate but police moved in, beating participants and detaining more than 100 monks and lay people, said the center, based in the Indian town of Dharmsala, the seat of the Tibetan government-in-exile.