The Independent reports from Xiahe, Gansu Province, where hundreds of Tibetan monks celebrated the awarding of the U.S. Congressional Gold Medal to the Dalai Lama:
Eyewitnesses, who cannot be named for fear of retribution, told of how the monks met stiff opposition from the police, and the celebrations on the night of 17 October quickly turned into a confrontation.
The demonstration of support was a brave and significant display of dissent by the Dalai Lama’s supporters in China and offers a rare insight into the tensions that exist between the three million Tibetans who live in Chinese territory outside the Tibetan Autonomous Region and the Chinese authorities, who insist that Tibet is part of China. [Full text]
