China detains Tibetan monk for staging peaceful protest

A young Tibetan monk named Lobsang Kelsang was detained after staging a peaceful solo protest on the main road of Ngaba county town on 17 March this year.

 
According to information received by TCHRD, at around 3:40 pm local time, the 19 years old monk of Kirti Monastery initiated a peaceful solo protest on the main road of Ngaba county town. He was seen shouting ” Tibet needs freedom!” while holding a portrait of His Holiness the Dalai Lama with his left hand and throwing lungta leaflets in the air with the other. However, local Chinese police arrived immediately and detained him from the spot. There is no information on his current condition and whereabouts at the moment.

 
Lobsang Kelsang is from Cha town of Ngaba (Ch: Aba) county, Ngaba Tibetan and Qiang Autonomous Prefecture, Sichuan Province. He is the second child out of three children of Tsering (father) and Dechen (mother). Lobsang Kelsang became a monk at Kirti Monastery from a very young age and he was studying Buddhist philosophy at the time of his arrest.