Source: Voice of Tibet, via Phayul; RFA; Phayul

Details: C; D; L; M; V

Initial reports suggested five or six monks from Gonchen monastery in Derge (Chinese: Dege) county in Kardze (Chinese: Ganzi) prefecture staged a protest on January 27, 2009 calling for Tibetan independence, and were detained by police who opened fire with live ammunition at some point in the process of detaining the monks.

However, later reports suggest the protest was a response to a demand by local officials that monks at the monastery perform ritual dances to welcome senior visiting officials. Accounts vary, with one RFA source saying that monks at the monastery were angered and protested when some other monks agreed to dance, despite a popular understanding that had spread throughout Tibet that there would be no activities to mark the Tibetan new year in memory of the people killed during the Chinese authorities’ response to protests the previous year.

Two other RFA sources, however, claim that monks at the monastery were angered when local officials, including women, dressed as monks and performed dances for the visiting officials themselves. As many as 30 monks were detained in the ensuing scuffle, and taken to the local detention center.

According to all reports, at least 200 – and possibly as many as 1000 people – led by a monk known as Lama Gala in his nineties then protested outside the detention center, calling for the release of those who had been detained earlier.

The monks who had been detained on January 27, 2009 were eventually all released on January 31, 2009, and all reportedly showed signs of beatings and abuse.

All sources reported hearing gunfire in the initial stages of the protest but were unable to confirm any details of possible injuries or casualties.