Protests and Arrests over Tunnel Construction

Twenty Tibetans have been taken into custody by the Chinese authorities as a result of their alleged participation in recent protests against the construction of a local tunnel in Derge county, or Kardze in Chinese, in the Sichuan province.

On January 7 more than 1,000 paramilitaries from the People’s Army Police carried out a raid which mainly focused around the town of Pondha and the Derge Gonchen monastery. They arrested twenty people suspected of leading the protests.

The Chinese crackdown is a direct response to the defiance shown by nearly a hundred Tibetans who took to the streets last month, in order to voice their dissent concerning the tunnel building and the related road project.

The construction of the tunnel, which will stretch from Derge Tsokok to Dege Kamthok, together with the road project, has been at the centre of a dispute for several months now. Local residents claim that these constructions are having serious repercussions on their community by causing serious damage to buildings, in addition to environmental concerns about the surrounding ecosystem.

According to local sources, seven months after digging for the tunnel began, cracks started to appear in nearby houses. Reports say that some of these buildings have subsequently collapsed leaving several families homeless during the winter.

On December 31, the population of Derge appealed again to the local authorities, asking them to bring the project to a halt in view of the damage it was causing to their community. Their request was unsuccessful.

In the aftermath of the arrests earlier this month the situation remains tense, and a further wave of unrest is feared. Local Tibetans have appealed to the authorities to release the prisoners, with some even demanding to be arrested themselves if the people being held are not released.

Further information about the development of the situation in Derge county is not available as the area remains under strict surveillance.

By Ugolino Vivaldi / January 15, 2014