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Chinese police arrest 60 Tibetans for keeping Dalai Lama's picture

Just Earth News | @justearthnews | 30 Aug 2021, 07:06 am Print

Chinese police arrest 60 Tibetans for keeping Dalai Lama's picture

Image: Wallpaper Cave

Sichuan: Chinese police in Sichuan province recently arrested 60 Tibetans as they were found with photos of exiled Tibetan spiritual leader the Dalai Lama.

Taken into custody in Sunday’s raid in Dza Wonpo township in the Kardze (in Chinese, Ganzi) Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture were 19 monks from a local monastery and 40 laypeople whose homes were thoroughly searched by police, a Tibetan living in India told Radio Free Asia.

“Those who were arrested are currently being held at the Sershul [Shiqu] county police station,” RFA’s source said, speaking on condition of anonymity and citing contacts in the region.

Chinese police then called a meeting on Wednesday, three days later, telling local residents aged 18 and above they would penalized for failure to attend, the source told RFA, adding, “The focus of the meeting was to warn people not to keep any pictures of the Dalai Lama or to share any information over their cell phones.”

A second raid of houses in the township to find banned photos was then launched that same day, the source told RFA.