Revolts

Despite some policy relaxations in Tibet in the 1980's, Tibetans remained an oppressed population deprived of their right to self determination. The Chinese government in Beijing continued to renounce the Dalai Lama as a "reactionary separatist" campaigning to "split the motherland". While the Chinese now allowed individual religious practice and permitted the rebuilding of a few select monasteries, it closely monitored all formal religious institutions, making sure monasteries could not gather any significant size or power. Tibetans continued to be openly discriminated against and were regarded as second-class citizens in their own country. The only way parents could ensure that their child receive proper education in Tibetan was to send them out of the country, usually hidden in the back of a supply truck.

On September 21, 1987, the Dalai Lama made an address to Capitol Hill in Washington in which he proposed his Five Point Peace Plan. The Chinese government immediately denounced it and then a few days later publicly executed a number of Tibetan dissidents at large public rally in Lhasa. Tibetans responded to this by taking to the streets in mass protest. Three major demonstrations were organized by monks in late September and early October, all of which were staged on the Barkhor, the Tibetan district of Lhasa which circles the Jokhang, the most sacred temple in Tibet. The police responded to the peaceful demonstrations by opening random fire on the protesters and bystanders, as reported by over 40 foreign witnesses.

These three protests were the first of over 100 separate incidents of public protest over the next few years, all of which took similar form. Monks would typically gather in and circumambulate (ritual circling of sacred objects) the jokhang while shouting out independence slogans. Police would then arrive and beat the protesters, and hundreds would be thrown in jail, often arrested at night from their homes. They would receive no fair trial and injured persons would receive no medical attention.

This series of protests finally culminated in the declaration of martial law on March 7, 1989, upon which the Dalai Lama cut off all communication with the government at Beijing. This occurred only three months prior to the brutal public massacre and declaration of martial law at Tiananmen Square in June of that year, which shocked the world community. It was also during this year that the Dalai Lama received the Nobel Peace Prize in recognition of his efforts for peace and commitment to non-violence.

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