Students staged a demonstration in Labrang,Photo Courtesy: VOA (Tibetan Language Service)

Two students of Kanlho Tibetan Middle School were expelled from their school on 19 June 2009 for their involvement in peaceful protest on 24 April 2009 www.tchrd.org/press/2009/pr20090424a.htm according to confirm information received by the Tibetan Centre for Human Rights and Democracy (TCHRD).

The expelled students were identified as Dolma Tashi a.k.a. Dolta, 21 years old and Dolma Bum a.k.a. Dolbum, 22 years old, both hailed from Sangkhok Township, Sangchu County, Kanlho “TAP” Gansu Province.

On 24 April 2009, the students of Kanlho Tibetan Middle School took to streets of Sangchu County, the peaceful and non-violent demonstration engulfed because of malpractice in allocating reserved seats of Tibetan students to Chinese students in higher education by the school authorities, according to reliable sources.

According to the latest information obtained by the Centre, other factor for the students taking to street was accrued to the article published under the pseudonym of Yidor entitled “Deception and Meanness of Dalai Lama” and “No Escape for the Dalai” published in bilingual Kanlho Daily, the latter article was not only published in newspaper but it had also been put up on the school notice board.

According to the source, unable to tolerate the smear campaign carried out against their beloved leader, the students started off the demonstration from their school, Kanlho Tibetan Middle School, and headed towards the county main market area raising slogans.

Reportedly the local Public Security Bureau (PSB) stopped the students in the outskirts of the main market area. According to sources on the ground, the students were driven back to the school and a strong contingent of Public Security Bureau Personnels and People's Armed Police (PAP) have surrounded the school barring anyone from entering or leaving. The parents of the students have been summoned at the school and they were asked to ensure that no such demonstration will take place in future.

According to the information received by the Centre, another 13 students from Sangchu Tibetan Nationality Elementary School were arrested for their peaceful demonstration on 30 April 2009 but subsequently released after brief detention. These protests were result of defaming article published in Kanlho Daily which has a large circulation and the students demonstrated with the slogan “Stop Defaming the Dalai Lama”.

In recent time, Kanlho Prefecture has been witnessing peaceful protest by Tibetan people at regular interval and instead of taking up the matter in constructive manner; the Chinese authorities are busy imposing new and varied restrictions. These acts of Chinese authorities are not only against the wishes of people but also against the fundamental rights enshrined under the Chinese constitution.



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