Tibetan Information Office (TIO) is based in Canberra.

Update on Tibet Demonstrations, 2 April 2008

In addition to the already released 40 names and details of Tibetans killed during the recent demonstrations, we are releasing four more names (with details) from current death toll list which stands at over 140.

They are:

[TABLE=5]

China destroying evidence by cremating bodies of Tibetans killed during demonstrations

Since March 10, Tibetans have held demonstrations in all the three traditional provinces of Tibet with over a 140 people dying as a direct result of the suppression.

Many of the bodies of those who were shot and killed by the Chinese military and police during the demonstrations have been cremated by the Chinese and only their ashes were returned to their families.

Such an atrocious move has been made by the Chinese to get rid of any evidence of their wrongdoing.

Lhakpa Tsering was killed in Lu-ghug Street with a shot to his forehead during the demonstration in Lhasa on March 14, 2008. He was a resident of Lhasa, around 30 years of age and used to work as a tourist vehicle driver. He was born in Lhoka Prefecture.

The Pubic Security Bureau (PSB) forcefully took the body of Lhakpa Tsering from his family telling them that some investigations needed to be done at the People?s Procuratorates. His body was later cremated in Toelung (west of Lhasa) and only his ashes were returned to his family in a plastic bag with his name written on it.

On March 24, Kunga (a monk from Chokri monastery) in Drakgo (Ch: Luhuo) County, Karze “Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture,” Sichuan province, was shot and killed during a demonstration at Chokri Monastery. On March 25, his body was forcefully taken from Chokri monastery and cremated nearby. It can be inferred that such incidents, whereby the Chinese are trying to get rid of evidence by cremating the bodies of those killed during the demonstrations, have occurred many times since the start of the demonstrations in Tibet where the death toll now stands over 140.