Pro-Tibetan group calls for Taiwan's support in face of crackdown

Mar 14, 2008, 16:50 GMT

Taipei - 'A Tibetan phoned us from Tibet that Chinese troops, with guns and tanks, have suppressed protests by 400 to 500 monks and civilians, and have taken over the Sera Monastery and the Drepung Monastery,' the Friends of Tibet in Taiwan said in a statement Friday.

Sera and Drepung are two of the three largest monasteries in Lhasa, the capital of China's Tibet Autonomous Region.

Two monks set themselves on fire to protest China's crackdown on the Tibetans' demonstrations, the statement said.

'Chinese troops are searching every home in Lhasa (for protesters) and the city has been plunged into fear and panic,' the Tibetan who made the phone call said.

The Friends of Tibet called on Taiwan and foreign countries to ask China to stop persecuting the Tibetan people, who are unarmed.

The monks-led protests are part of the global protests against China by Tibetan exiles, marking the 49th anniversary of the failed 1959 uprising against Chinese invasion of Tibet and to call attention to the Tibet issuee ahead of the Beijing Olympic Games.

The campaign began last week with protests in major cities around the world, a 'long march' from Dharamsala, seat of the Tibetan government-in-exile, to the Chinese border, and the relay of the 'freedom torch' for the Beijing Olympics.

The Dalai Lama demanded that China stop using force against the protests which are 'a manifestation of the deep-rooted resentment of the Tibetan people.'

He urged China to address Tibetans' resentment through dialogue while urging Tibetans to refrain from using violence.

The European Union, the United States and Germany called on Beijing to use restraint in Tibet.

China sees Tibet as a part of China, but many Tibetans, resenting China's brutal rule, consider Tibet an independent country.

To protest Tibetan culture and religion, the Dalai Lama, who fled to India in 1959, has compromised on his call for independence and is requesting only a high degree of autonomy for Tibet.