You won't see this on the evening news. Chinese security forces have repeatedly clashed with locals around the Kirti Monastary in Sichuan, a mountainous province which borders Tibet and is home to many buddhists and ethnic Tibetans.
Armed police have also unleashed attack canines on residents trying to access the monastary, and, for a time, blocked food and water from reaching the 2,000 monks who live at Kirti. Chinese officials announced today that those monks between the ages of 18-40 would be taken away for 're-education'.
Locals have responded by surrounding security forces blockading the monastary and preventing Chinese trucks from reaching Kirti with supplies and troops. Today, the Dalai Lama issued a statement urging locals "not to do anything that might be used as a pretext by the local authorities to massively crackdown on them."
The exiled Tibetan leader has also urged the international community to persuade Beijing to show restraint in dealing with the situation in Kirti. Such calls, however, will fall predictably on deaf ears in the West as America and Europe, continuing to rely on trade with China to buoy their economies, get their financial houses in order and tinker with the ongoing civil war in Libya.
The conflagration began on March 16th when a monk, Phuntsog, committed suicide by immolation in an effort to commemorate March 16th, the third anniversary of anti-government uprisings in the area. After dousing the flames, the International Campaign for Tibet reported that Chinese police beat Phuntsog, spurring monks and residents to engage in protests that were quickly dispersed by PRC police.
