Gyatso Ratsa, 42 and Lobsang Gendun, 48. Both are part of the group of teachers and scholars of the monastery where the wave of self-immolation by fire began.

Dharamsala (AsiaNews) - Chinese police have arrested two Tibetan monks from the monastery of Kirti (Sichuan), which has been monitored and besieged for months by the Chinese police. The Kirti Monastery where, March last, a new wave of protests against the Chinese occupation of Tibet started, with many monks arriving at self-immolation by fire (see 03/17/2011 Young Tibetan monk sets fire to himself in memory of the dead of March 2008 11.23.2011 Self immolation for Tibet: a cry of pain in the midst of the world’s indifference).

Sources from the Tibetan Centre for Human Rights and Democracy, said that on 21 November, the monk Gyatso, 42 (left in photo) was taken from his cell and arrested. Gyatso, of the Ratsa family became a monk at an early age. He was a teacher in the Kirti monastery before its closure.

The other was monk arrested Lobsang Gendun, 48, was a scholar at Kirti College Kalachakra. His arrest was in mid-October, but has only now been confirmed.

The motives for the two arrests are unknown. Meanwhile the situation at Kirti and in the region of Ngaba and remains very tense. At least 200 policemen surround the monastery at all times, checking every movement.

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• china
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• monks
• arrest