image source,Twitter
Video shows people gathering in Lhasa to protest
Video footage has surfaced on social media showing what appears to be a rare mass protest in the Tibetan capital Lhasa against China’s draconian measures to prevent the spread of the novel coronavirus.
Multiple video clips showed hundreds of people clashing with police at the demonstration site. Most of them are Han workers living in Tibet.
Lhasa has been under lockdown for nearly three months to combat the latest wave of the coronavirus.
Tibet is one of the areas with the strictest security in China.
One of the videos showed hundreds of people gathered in the street, with officials stopping them at one end. A loudspeaker can be heard calling for calm, while an official tells the crowd: “Everyone understands our work, go back first, don’t gather in this place…”
Another video showed dozens of people in the street at night, with a man’s voice commenting on the situation.
In Mandarin, the man said many of the people in the area were migrant workers who had been locked down for too long.
Another video showed people marching in the streets with the caption “We just want to go home”.
The BBC has verified that some of the videos were taken in Lhasa recently. They have since been taken down on Chinese social media, but are still circulating on Twitter.
Sources in Tibet told Radio Free Asia (RFA) that protesters threatened to “set fire” if restrictions were not lifted, though it was unclear what that meant.
Another source said there were fears that the confrontation between the public and the police could turn violent.
image source,Twitter
A video shows people taking to the streets to leave
A businessman near Jiarong Road in Chengguan District confirmed to the BBC that the protest took place on Wednesday (October 26) afternoon.
Later in the day, officials arrived at the scene to calm the situation, he said. Some “have been allowed to go home” the next day, he said.
Another Lhasa resident told the BBC that she did not see the protest because her place was still blocked, but she had seen many videos circulating in mobile phone groups.
“Everyone is locked at home every day, everyone’s life is so difficult, and they don’t have any income…” said the woman who only revealed her surname, Han, “Now the prices in Lhasa are so expensive, they are almost the same as in first-tier cities, and there is no income. Under the circumstances, the landlord here is still urging the payment of the rent… If he doesn’t let him go home, it’s all forced out, there’s no way.”
She also said: “Everyone gets together, which means: what to do, how to solve this matter, can you let us go…”
Ms Han said she had been in lockdown for nearly 80 days, and people could move around the community for a few hours a day, but couldn’t go anywhere else.
Regarding the local epidemic, she said: “They (the government) may report as much as they want.”
“The iron door is locked every day on our side now, and there are people who say that there are Fuyang people every day. Who knows what they report is true or false!”
The BBC has seen many people on China’s Douyin platform saying that they are trapped in Lhasa because of the new crown epidemic prevention policy.
“Today is the 77th day of the lockdown in Lhasa… I don’t know how long it will last, I don’t know where my hope is, and I don’t know when I can leave… Can you understand the difficulties of migrant workers?” one post reads. road.
“Three months without a penny of income and a penny of expenses, how long can you guys in Lhasa, how long can you last?” read another post.
Neither official nor state media has commented on the protests, although local officials said on Thursday that Lhasa had reported eight new cases of the coronavirus.
All videos of the incident have been blocked on Chinese social media platforms, although Douyin has many people looking for entries about the protest, such as “what happened in Lhasa tonight”.
Lhasa has been under lockdown since the end of August. Rights groups say there have been several suicides among Tibetans since the lockdown.
China’s zero-epidemic prevention policy has reduced the death toll from the new crown epidemic, but it has dealt a heavy blow to people’s lives and the economy, and the public’s fatigue from the blockade and travel restrictions has become more serious.
Wednesday’s protest was described as Lhasa’s biggest revolt since unrest in 2008.
At least 19 people were killed in that incident, and China’s Ministry of Security has been accused of using beatings and deadly force against protesters. After the incident, Tibet is no longer open to foreigners, and China has also increased its troops in the region by tens of thousands.
Tibet is an autonomous region of China under which Beijing claims significant development has been achieved.
But rights groups say China continues to violate human rights and enforce political and religious repression in the region. Beijing denies any infringement.