Dharamshala: - Around 9 pm on April 21, armed soldiers, police officers and ‘special police' (Duijing) deployed around all of the monastic residences in the Kirti compound to seal them off, and then arrested over 300 monks, following a preconceived plan. They put them into 10 trucks of the largest size, and took them away. According to what local people have heard, they have been taken either to Dujiangyan or to Tashi Ling (Li Xian).
According to a report by Ven. Kanyak Tsering, the media coordinator of Dharamshala based Kirti Monastery, From about 4 pm Beijing time on the 21st for the next 24 hours, there were no telephone signals whatsoever. At about 5 pm Beijing time on the 22nd, five large trucks of the type used in the previous night's arrests pulled into the monastery. Their registration plates and other writing on the sides had been covered up, so it is supposed that they plan to arrest more monks tonight.
The doors to the rooms of the monks arrested last night have been sealed, or marked with notices saying it is forbidden to open them. It is particularly disturbing that as the monks were driven away, the group of over 200 mainly old people who had been waiting around the entrance of the monastery since April 12 out of concern that something like this was going to happen were mercilessly beaten when they tried to prevent it. People had their arms and legs broken, one old woman had her leg broken in three places, and cloth was stuffed in their mouths to stifle their screams.
Among them Dongko of upper Tawa, aged 60, and 65 year old Sherkyi of the Rako Tsang house in Naktsangma, Cha township were both killed. The people were put into four goods trucks, two went to the army camp and two went to the ‘Raybong' cemetery, and there they were released. Most of them were released b 9 am on morning of the 22nd, but a group of younger people was detained. A girl from the Nakle Losang house has been reported missing since last night, but there are no further details of their names and so on. On April 22nd, all shops and restaurants in the county town remained closed, and only military and official vehicles were on the roads.
In fact, the monks had got wind that something like this was going to happen by midday on 21st, and around 6 pm a large group of monks gathered, protesting that they could not do such a thing, and that if any of them were arrested (the rest) would stand in their way. They remained there until about 8.30 pm, when the senior official leading the present reeducation campaign came and told them emphatically that there was no such intention and that the monks should return to their rooms.
He was backed up by the monastery Khenpos and members of the Democratic Management Committee saying the same thing, and saying that if the monks did not go back to their rooms, there could be a confrontation with the army, and the monks themselves would be responsible for the consequences. The monks returned to their rooms, and a only short while later their dormitories were surrounded by special police (Duijing), and the arrests went ahead as described above.
