This was one of a string of incidents based around schools in Tibet in March 2010

A local source said "around 400 or 500 of (the local residents) were standing in front of government offices and demanding the release of those detained.” Residents reported that some 3,000 Chinese security forces personelle have been stationed in the area, which has greatly increased local tensions.

Dolkar Kyab, an exiled Tibetan with contacts in Machu, said that “some of them shouted for the long life of His Holiness the Dalai Lama, and demanded resolution of the Sino-Tibetan dialogue. They managed to protest for about 30 to 4O minutes before they were surrounded by armed police” he said, citing contacts with local residents.

The Tibetan headmaster of the middle school, Kyabchen Dedrol, was then reportedly fired from his post, together with his assistants and the head of the county Public Security Bureau, while students remained confined to the school grounds. It has been reported that other teachers may also lose their jobs.

Phayul reported that one local resident said “the school is surrounded by armed security forces, and all the students are locked inside the campus. They are not allowed to move in and out. Tension is extremely high in the Machu county area." This report has not been verified, and Chinese authorities in the area have declined to comment.

Dolkar Kyab said that his sources told him that academic work at the school would be suspended for a month while the students received 'political re-education'. These statements have not yet been confirmed as accurate.

On March 16, there were reports that students at a second school, Kanlho Tibetan Middle School No. 3, also protested, but were stopped from leaving school grounds by school security officials and teachers.

It has also been reported that at a third school, the Kanlho Prefecture Middle School, students left the school grounds and protested in the street in Sangchu county. A local resident reportedly said  “police and armed PAP [People’s Armed Police] surrounded the students and forced them back into the school compound. About 20 students were detained and were later released after being interrogated.”

The Tibetan Centre for Human Rights and Democracy has also reported that three Tibetans; 20-year-old monk Yeshi, 19-year-old monk Jamyang and their teacher Tulku Woeser, were arrested in Ditsa township for allegedly putting up posters at Ditsa monastery. It was reported that the posters called for the return of the Dalai Lama to Tibet and called for the 'end of repression in Tibet', and were found on 14 March 2010. The three Tibetans were reportedly taken to Hualong police station for interrogation while the monastery campus was surrounded by security forces. The authorities also shut down a school run by the monastery in connection with these arrests. Tulku Woeser has since been released, apparently due to bad health after two days of interrogation.

The Chinese authorities had earlier closed the Sherig Rinchen Norling school, a subsidiary under Ditsu monastery, on 8 March 2010. They had not given any reasons for doing so.

There have also been reports of another protest by Tibetan students in Hezuo village in Gansu. Phayul reported that 20 teenagers were reportedly taken into custody following a protest thought to have been staged on 10 March 2010.

Kyabchen Dedrol, Do Re and Topdhen were arrested in connection to protests. Topdhen's whereabouts remain unknown

More protests in March 2010

“There have also been reports of silent protests by Tibetans in Lhasa, who apparently refused to open their shops in memory of those who died during the Tibetan protests of March 2008. The Chinese authorities, keen to avoid highlighting the brutal crackdowns which took place two years earlier, had ordered local Tibetans to operate their businesses as usual on 14th March, the anniversary of the beginning of the 2008 protests.

It has been reported that thousands of security forced were deployed in Lhasa, but many refused to open their shops.

Phayul also reported that hundreds of Tibetans protested in Markham county in Kham on 10 March, the 51st anniversary of the 1959 Tibetan uprising. Reports said that they demanded compensation for damage to the local environment and their herds of animals due to mining activities in the area. There had also been protests in Markham in May 2009, when hundreds of Tibetans gathered to oppose gold mining projects at the sacred Ger Ngol Lo site. This year, it was reported that Tibetan youths threatened to kill themselves if Chinese security forces detained the leaders of the protest, leading to the authorities seeking help from local monks to persuade the protesters to disperse.

Student protests in 2009

Voice of America reported that Tibetan students also took part in protests in spring 2009, when students at the Xiahe middle school in Labrang started off towards the market area of in the centre of the county, chanting slogans. The reports said that the Chinese security forces stopped the student before they reached the market and drove them back to the school, which was then surrounded by security, preventing anybody from entering or exiting the building. Parents were then questioned by the authorities.

It was reported that the students had been demonstrating against the authorities' practice of reserving places in higher education institutions for ethnic Chinese students, leading to Tibetans being disadvantaged in their own country. Among other unfair practices, this policy leads to Tibetan children, who already struggle to compete against native Chinese speakers when exams are conducted in Chinese rather than Tibetan, having reduced opportunities to study at university level and lesser employment opportunities in adult life compared with their Chinese counterparts.

Images from the student protest in Labrang in April 2009: VOA