Reportage – 2007

China tightens security in Tibet ahead of US Prize for Dalai Lama

MCLEOD GANJ, India, 16 October 2007 — Chinese authorities have tightened security in Tibet ahead of the presentation of the US Congressional Gold Medal award to the Dalai Lama on Wednesday in Washington.

The US President George W Bush will bestow the Congressional Gold Medal, the country's highest civilian honour, on the Tibetan leader in front of the Capitol building in Washington on 17 October.

For months China has pressed the United States to cancel the award event. Chinese officials have said honouring the Dalai Lama will have "an extremely serious impact" on relations between the two countries.

Officials in Lhasa have ordered students and Tibetan employees in the government to refrain from seeking leave from their schools and offices. They are also asked not to participate in customary Sangsol ritual (incense burning ceremony, throwing tsampa in the air for success and luck) this week, or they will face expulsion from schools, salary cut and even termination of their jobs, according to a press release from Tibetan Centre for Human Rights and Democracy.

Many elderly and retired Tibetan people, who usually gather outside the Ramoche Temple in Lhasa City to offer Mani prayers, were ordered to stop their prayers and vacate the place immediately for an indefinite period on Sunday.

An official notice was issued to all the heads of neighbouring areas directing people to refrain from taking part in any religious activities such as Sangsol, holding group prayer at monasteries, or any act of revelry this week in the light of the Congressional Gold Medal award. The regulation and control over monasteries in the surrounding areas of Lhasa city are intensified more than ever.

Lhasa Public Security Bureau (PSB) rounded up many former political prisoners residing in and around Lhasa at the local police station for questioning. They were even known to have been ordered to refrain from participating in any activities in the coming weeks.

The numbers of People's Armed Police (PAP) and PSB officials were also increased significantly since 25 September to deal with any untoward incident in Lhasa. Restriction and vigilance was stepped up in offices, schools, and homes of ex-political prisoners and those people whom the government deemed suspicious.