Slaughterhouse Fire -Tibetan, Blinded, Freed from Jail, Five Still Held for

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http://www.rfa.org/english/news/social/2006/02/01/tibet_fire/

 

" Tibetan, Blinded, Freed from Jail, Five Still Held for Slaughterhouse Fire

2006.02.01

 

" The Tibetans, some of whom said they were angry because they had been pressured

to sell their animals for slaughter at below-market prices, broke into the

building and found what they described as a large number of animals, including

dogs and horses, the sources said.

 

They freed all the animals and set fire to the building, sources said. Whether

the building was completely razed or badly damaged was unclear. "

 

 

KATHMANDU—Authorities in the southwestern Chinese province of Sichuan have

released one of six Tibetan nomads held in connection with the burning of a

Chinese-owned slaughterhouse, after prison beatings and an untreated infection

left the man blind, Tibetan sources said.

 

One of the six was released since he lost both his eyes [after] beatings by

Chinese prison officials and a severe infection.

 

Resident of Manikengo

 

“Six who were suspected as the main culprits were arrested and jailed. One of

the six was released since he lost both his eyes [after] beatings by Chinese

prison officials and a severe infection,” one source told RFA’s Tibetan service.

 

More t " han 160 Tibetans were detained after hundreds of people stormed and set

fire to a Chinese-owned slaughterhouse on Aug. 5, 2005, in Manikengo (in

Chinese, Manigange) township in Kardze (Ganzi) Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture in

what is now Sichuan, sources said.

 

Scores of police and security forces rushed to the slaughterhouse, built in 2004

by a Chinese entrepreneur and his partner, a county official, the said.

Man released after going blind

 

All but six of the Tibetans were released, although when they were released was

unclear.

 

The six men held in a Dege County jail have been identified as Sherab Yeshi,

aged around 70; Sogya [one name], aged around 50; Dawa [one name], aged around

30; Dawa, aged around 50; and two other men about whom no details were

available.

 

Only Sogya was released after he became blind as a result of beatings and an

untreated infection, acording to several sources.

 

Government officials declined to comment on the case or the fire, and whether

any of the six have been officially charged, tried, or sentenced was unknown.

 

The slaughterhouse, known to Tibetan residents as the Manikengo slaughterhouse,

is said to be registered as the Dege Longsheng Yak LLC, a subsidiary of Chengdu

Ganzi Longsheng Meizi Yak Ltd. Inc.

 

According to the official Ganzi Net news Web site, attendees at the Oct. 17,

2004 opening ceremony included Deputy Governor of Ganzi Tibetan Autonomous

Prefecture Tao He, Deputy Chairman of the Ganzi People’s Congress Dan Zen Luo

Bo, Director of the Ganzi Bureau of the Animal Husbandry Abeng [one name], and

Dege County Magistrate Jingqiang Zhao.

Locals angry over slaughterhouse

 

The crowd that converged on the building last August appears to have been

especially large because the incident occurred during the annual Tibetan horse

race festival, which attracts thousands of people, the sources said.

 

The Tibetans, some of whom said they were angry because they had been pressured

to sell their animals for slaughter at below-market prices, broke into the

building and found what they described as a large number of animals, including

dogs and horses, the sources said.

 

They freed all the animals and set fire to the building, sources said. Whether

the building was completely razed or badly damaged was unclear.

 

Accounts of the incident offer a rare glimpse of tensions between ethnic

Tibetans and Chinese authorities in this remote and undeveloped region, under

the administration of Sichuan province since 1949.

 

Friction over the existence of the slaughterhouse is said to have been

escalating for more than a year, with monastic leaders trying to buy the

property and the Chinese owners refusing to sell it. At one stage in 2004, local

residents said, the Tibetan community organized a boycott of the slaughterhouse.

 

“It was ordered that the local Tibetan nomads should sell animals to the

laughterhouse at a reduced rate, but no local Tibetan nomads sold animals to the

slaughterhouse,” one source said.

 

“The local Tibetans didn’t like the idea of huge slaughterhouse in Dege county,

[and] it had no business last year. Neighboring Pawon [in Chinese, Babeng]

township planned to sell them about 300 yaks, but the local nomads of Manikengo

objected and the proposal was withdrawn.”

 

Kalsang Rinpoche, reincarnate lama of Dzogchen Monastery, and Khenpo Sherab

Sangpo, abbot of Golok Serta Buddhist Center, together offered to buy the

slaughterhouse for 100,000 yuan, one source said, but the owners refused to

sell.

 

RFA reporters were unable to locate the owners of the slaughterhouse for

comment.

 

Original reporting by RFA’s Tibetan service. Director: Jigme Ngapo. Written in

English by Sarah Jackson-Han and edited by Luisetta Mudie.