Thousands of Tibetans mobilize to defend Sacred Mountains

May 18, 2010
A mas­sive police crack­down may be immi­nent in the Tibetan Autonomous Region (TAR), where thou­sands of Tibetan vil­lagers have mobi­lized to defend their sacred moun­tains from exploita­tion.

Stop Mining Tibet protestMay 18, 2010
A mas­sive police crack­down may be immi­nent in the Tibetan Autonomous Region (TAR), where thou­sands of Tibetan vil­lagers have mobi­lized to defend their sacred moun­tains from exploita­tion.

Accord­ing to reports from Radio Free Asia (RFA), the vil­lagers are attempt­ing to halt three sep­a­rate gold mines in Tsong­shen, Choeten, and Deshoe in Markham coun­ty, TAR.

As many as five thou­sand Chi­nese troops have been called in to make sure the min­ing oper­a­tions pro­ceed.

A local Tibetan source, who spoke to RFA on con­di­tion of anonymi­ty, says at least five pro­test­ers have already been injured in the protests, while numer­ous oth­ers have been beat­en and tear-gassed by the troops. One also “attempt­ed to kill him­self with a bro­ken bot­tle, the source said.”

Almost exact­ly one year ago, the same Tibetan vil­lagers orga­nized an indef­i­nite road­block to pro­tect one of their sacred moun­tains, known local­ly as “Ser Ngul Lo.”

Trans­lat­ed into Eng­lish as “Year of Gold and Sil­ver”, Ser Ngul Lo has been wor­shipped by the Tibetans for cen­turies and it is the site of impor­tant cer­e­monies con­duct­ed in times of drought.

Gov­ern­ment offi­cials at the time grant­ed a Chi­nese com­pa­ny per­mis­sion to oper­ate a gold mine in the region–most cer­tain­ly, with­out con­sult­ing the Tibetans or gain­ing their con­sent.

In addi­tion to pro­tect­ing the Moun­tain, the vil­lagers were also deeply con­cerned that their drink­ing water would be con­t­a­m­i­nat­ed by the mine. And with a tense stand-off that ensued, the peace­ful vil­lagers declared that they were “ready to die” to pro­tect the sacred site. The Tibetans feared the worst.

But then, as the inter­na­tion­al com­mu­ni­ty watched on, the unimag­in­able hap­pened: Gov­ern­ment offi­cials sat down with the Tibetans and reached a peace­ful accord.

For their part, the offi­cials agreed to com­plete­ly aban­don the gold mine and with­draw all troops in the area. In addi­tion, they agreed to build a con­crete bar­ri­er to stop any old min­ing waste from leach­ing into the local water sys­tem.

In return, the Tibetans agreed to end their 24-hour block­ade and return home.