BEIJING — Buddhist monks interrupted a government-managed media tour in western China on Wednesday, waving a Tibetan flag and protesting that the authorities were depriving them of their human rights.
The disruption, in the city of Xiahe in Gansu Province, was another unexpected public relations setback for China, and marked the second time that monks have upstaged government efforts to control foreign media tours of Tibetan areas.
Last month, several monks in Lhasa, the Tibetan capital, risked official punishment when they made an emotional appeal to foreign journalists inside the Jokhang Monastery, one of the city’s holiest shrines.
The outburst on Wednesday came as authorities guided reporters through the Labrang Monastery. The tour marked the first officially approved visit to Xiahe by foreign reporters since monks and other Tibetans in the city clashed with police last month. During the tour, about 15 monks rushed out, waving a Tibetan flag, and approached a group of about 20 Chinese and foreign reporters.
“The Dalai Lama has to come back to Tibet,” one monk said, according to Reuters, which was invited on the tour. “We are not asking for Tibetan independence, we are just asking for human rights. We have no human rights now.”
[Via NYT]
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