Tibetan high schoolers protest in monastery town
BEIJING, April 25 (Reuters) - Hundreds of Tibetan high schoolers staged an early morning protest in the monastery town of Xiahe, in Gansu province in northwestern China, local residents said on Saturday.
The protest by students at the Xiahe Middle School, near the important Labrang monastery, was settled by police without injury or arrest, receptionists at local hotels said.
The students were protesting that university spots reserved for ethnic Tibetans had been given to Han Chinese students, overseas Tibetan activist groups said.
Residents did not confirm the reason for the protest. Phone calls to police were not answered.
Xiahe was the site of large demonstrations against Chinese rule in March last year, shortly after violent riots by Tibetans in Lhasa on March 14, 2008 left 18 civilians dead.
Three Tibetan women were sentenced this week for setting fire to a Lhasa shop in which five shopgirls were burned to death. One received a death sentence with two years reprieve, while the others were sentenced for life and to ten years' imprisonment, the Xinhua news agency said this week.
Monks at the Labrang monastery staged an emotional protest when foreign journalists visited last year in a government-organized trip. They said they were seeking greater rights and the return of exiled spiritual leader, the Dalai Lama.
One of those monks, Kelsang Gyatso, was detained this month, the Tibetan Centre for Human Rights and Democracy said on Saturday. Two others have been detained since last year, it added. (Reporting by Lucy Hornby; Editing by Alex Richardson)
The protest by students at the Xiahe Middle School, near the important Labrang monastery, was settled by police without injury or arrest, receptionists at local hotels said.
The students were protesting that university spots reserved for ethnic Tibetans had been given to Han Chinese students, overseas Tibetan activist groups said.
Residents did not confirm the reason for the protest. Phone calls to police were not answered.
Xiahe was the site of large demonstrations against Chinese rule in March last year, shortly after violent riots by Tibetans in Lhasa on March 14, 2008 left 18 civilians dead.
Three Tibetan women were sentenced this week for setting fire to a Lhasa shop in which five shopgirls were burned to death. One received a death sentence with two years reprieve, while the others were sentenced for life and to ten years' imprisonment, the Xinhua news agency said this week.
Monks at the Labrang monastery staged an emotional protest when foreign journalists visited last year in a government-organized trip. They said they were seeking greater rights and the return of exiled spiritual leader, the Dalai Lama.
One of those monks, Kelsang Gyatso, was detained this month, the Tibetan Centre for Human Rights and Democracy said on Saturday. Two others have been detained since last year, it added. (Reporting by Lucy Hornby; Editing by Alex Richardson)
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