Tibet: How China cracked down on rare protests over Kamtok dam

The BBC has learned from sources and verified images that hundreds of Tibetans were arrested earlier this year for their protests against a Chinese bridge. Some of the victims were beaten and seriously injured.

In Tibet, which China has strongly controlled since it annexed the area in the 1950s, demonstrations of this nature are unique. The fact that they continue to occur shows China’s contentious effort to build dams in a region that has long been sympathetic.

Soon after the activities in February, accusations of the arrests and stabbings started to surface. Authorities tightened restrictions even more in the coming weeks, making it difficult for anyone to check the report, especially for journalists who are unable to travel freely to Tibet.

However, the BBC has spent decades looking for Tibetan solutions whose friends and family members were beaten and detained. Additionally, BBC Verify has checked leaked videos and satellite pictures that show large-scale demonstrations and clergy pleading with the authorities for mercy.

The options are no associated with activist organizations and reside outside of China. However, for health reasons, they did not want to be named.

The Chinese ambassador in the UK did not confirm or refute the demonstrations or the ensuing assault in response to our inquiries.

However, it stated that” China is a nation governed by the rule of law, and completely protects people ‘ right to legitimately express their concerns and ideas or ideas.”

The demonstrations, followed by the assault, took position in a country house to Tibetans in Sichuan territory. For years, Chinese authorities have been planning to build the massive Gangtuo dam and hydropower plant, also known as Kamtok in Tibetan, in the valley straddling the Dege ( Derge ) and Jiangda ( Jomda ) counties.

The dam’s reservoir, which is constructed, do bury a Tibetan region rich in both cultural and religious significance and a location rich in ancient monasteries and villages.

One of them, the 700-year-old Wangdui ( Wontoe ) Monastery, has particular historical value as its walls feature rare Buddhist murals.

Taus of Tibetans would also be displaced by the Gangtuo bridge. The transfer of 4, 287 people to make way for the dam has been seen by what appears to be a common sweet document.

The BBC spoke with a government official listed on the sweet record as well as Huadian, the state-owned company rumored to be building the dam. Neither have responded.

Plans to build the dam were first approved in 2012, according to a United Nations special rapporteurs letter to the Chinese government. The letter, which is from July 2024, raised concerns about the dam’s “irreversible impact” on thousands of people and the environment.

From the start, citizens were no” consulted in a significant way” about the bridge, according to the email. For example, they were given data that was limited and not in the Tibetan vocabulary.

The government also promised to the people that the project would only proceed if 80 % of them gave their consent, the letter continues, adding that people tried to raise issues about the dam several times.

Therefore, in February, officials told them they had been evicted immediately, while giving them much information about relocation options and payment, the BBC understands from two Tibetan sources.

Despite knowing the dangers of a assault, people and Buddhist priests decided to step protests because of this.

In Dege, the largest one saw hundreds of people gathering outside a state tower. Activists can be heard calling on the government to prevent the foreclosures and letting them sit in a video tape that was obtained and verified by the BBC.

A group of inhabitants reportedly pleaded with visiting officials to halt construction of the bridge in a separate incident. The BBC has verified that this tragedy occurred in the town of Xiba and obtained footage that appears to show it.

Red-robed priests and people are seen knelt down on a sandy road and giving a thumbs up, a customary Tibetan pleading for mercy.

In the past, the Taiwanese government has been swift to oust any resistance to authority, particularly in Tibetan country, where it is sensitive to anything that might lead to separatist attitude.

This day, it was no different. According to one of our resources, authorities quickly launched their assault, raiding homes across the river, and arresting hundreds of people at demonstrations.

In what is thought to be an arrest function, one unidentified but widely shared picture appears to show Chinese police shoving a group of priests on a street.

Our Tibetan options, whose families and friends were the targets of the onslaught, claim that many were detained for weeks and some were severely beaten.

One resource shared new details of the investigations. He claimed to the BBC that a close friend from childhood was detained and subjected to numerous interrogations over the course of several weeks.

He was questioned and treated politely at earliest. They asked him’ who asked you to attend, who is behind this’.

” Then, when he couldn’t provide them]the ] comments they wanted, he was beaten by six or seven unique surveillance officers over several times.”

His companion sustained only small wounds, and was freed within a few days. But others were not so fortunate.

A different cause informed the BBC that more than 20 of his relatives and friends were detained for participating in the demonstrations, including an old man who was older than 70.

” Some of them sustained accidents all over their system, including in their bones and liver, from being kicked and beaten… some of them were ill because of their wounds, “he said.

Similar allegations of physical abuse and whippings during the detention have come up in Tibetan media reports from abroad.

The UN notice also notes accounts of suspensions and use of pressure on hundreds of demonstrators, stating they were” seriously beaten by the Chinese authorities, resulting in injury that required hospitalisation”.

After the assault, Tibetans in the area encountered yet tighter restrictions, the BBC understands. There was increased security, and communication with the outside world was more hampered. According to sources, those who are still in contact have been reluctant to talk because they fear a new onslaught.

According to the first source, some released protesters were finally permitted to travel abroad in Tibetan place, but others have received orders restricting their motion.

Nomadic nomads who need to travel across pastures with their herds and those who need to go to a hospital for health care have issues as a result, he said.

When I got through, they told me not to visit any more because they would be arrested, according to the next cause, who claimed he last heard from his friends and relatives at the end of February. They were quite scared, they would stand up on me.

” We used to talk over Twitter, but now that is certainly achievable. I’m absolutely blocked from contacting all of them”, he said.

” A younger girl cousin was the last people I spoke to,” I said. She said,’ It’s very unsafe, a lot of us have been arrested, there’s a lot of problem, they have hit a lot of us’… They didn’t know what was going to happen to them next”.

The Chinese state media has been unable to provide any information about the protests and assault. But soon after the protests, a Chinese Communist Party national visited the area to “explain the need” of building the bridge and called for” security repair methods”, according to one report.

According to documents posted online, a few months later, a tender was awarded for the construction of a Dege “public security post.”

The BBC has been using satellite imagery to monitor the valley for months. For now, there is no sign of the dam’s construction nor demolition of the villages and monasteries.

The Chinese Embassy informed us that the government was still conducting geological surveys and special studies to build the dam. They added the local government is “actively and thoroughly understanding the demands and aspirations” of residents.

China is no stranger to controversy over dams.

The Three Gorges on the Yangtze River, the government’s largest dam, was the subject of protests and criticism when it built the world’s largest dam in the 1990s.

As China has accelerated its transition from coal to clean energy sources in recent years, these moves have become particularly sensitive in Tibetan territories.

Beijing has been eyeing the steep valleys and mighty rivers here, in the rural west, to build mega-dams and hydropower stations that can sustain China’s electricity-hungry eastern metropolises. President Xi Jinping has personally pushed for this, a policy called” xidiandongsong”, or” sending western electricity eastwards”.

Like Gangtuo, many of these dams are on the Jinsha ( Dri Chu ) river, which runs through Tibetan territories. It is located in the Yangtze River’s upper reaches, making it China’s largest clean energy corridor.

Gangtuo is in fact the most recent of a string of dams planned for this valley, five of which are either being built or are already operational.

These dams have been described by the Chinese government and state media as a win-win solution that reduces pollution, generates clean energy, and improves rural Tibetans.

Clean energy projects are focused on “promoting high-quality economic development” and “enhancing the sense of gain and happiness among people of all ethnic groups,” according to the Chinese embassy’s statement to the BBC.

However, Tibetans have long been accused of violating their rights by the Chinese government. The dams, according to activists, are the most recent instance of Beijing squattering Tibetans and their land.

” What we are seeing is the accelerated destruction of Tibetan religious, cultural and linguistic heritage”, said Tenzin Choekyi, a researcher with rights group Tibet Watch. The Chinese government is implementing “high-quality development” and “ecological civilisation” in Tibet.

The Tibetans are expelled from their homes in China, which creates a favorable environment for development. The same fate awaits the villagers and monks who live close to the Gangtuo dam. According to Human Rights Watch ( HRW), more than 930, 000 rural Tibetans have been relocated since 2000.

Beijing has always maintained that these relocations happen only with the consent of Tibetans, and that they are given housing, compensation and new job opportunities. State media often portrays it as an improvement in their living conditions.

But rights groups paint a different picture, with reports detailing evidence of coercion, complaints of inadequate compensation, cramped living conditions, and lack of jobs. They also point out that relocation severs the deep, centuries-old connection that rural Tibetans share with their land.

According to Maya Wang, interim China director at HRW,” These people will essentially lose everything they own, their livelihoods, and community heritage.”

There are also environmental concerns related to the possible dangers of building dams in a region rife with earthquake fault lines, as well as the flooding of Tibetan valleys renowned for their biodiversity.

Some Chinese academics have found the pressure from accumulated water in dam reservoirs could potentially increase the risk of quakes, including in the Jinsha river. This could cause catastrophic flooding and destruction, as seen in 2018, when rain-induced landslides occurred at a village situated between two dam construction sites on Jinsha.

The Chinese embassy informed us that any clean energy project’s implementation” will go through scientific planning and rigorous demonstration, and will be subject to relevant supervision.”

China has recently passed laws protecting the environment around the Yangtze River and the Qinghai-Tibetan plateau. The Yangtze’s upper reaches must be protected, according to President Xi.

About 424 million yuan ( £45.5m,$ 60m ) has been spent on environmental conservation along Jinsha, according to state media. Reports have also highlighted efforts to quake-proof dam projects.

Multiple Tibetan rights groups, however, argue that any large-scale development in Tibetan territory, including dams such as Gangtuo, should be halted.

They have organized demonstrations abroad and called for an international moratorium, arguing that businesses involved in these projects would “allow the Chinese government to profit from the occupation and oppression of Tibetans.”

” I really hope that this]dam-building ] stops”, one of our sources said. ” Our ancestors were here, our temples are here. We have been here for generations. It causes a lot of pain to move. What kind of existence would we have if we left?”

Additional reporting by Richard Irvine-Brown of BBC Verify