Tenzin Nyidon
NEW DELHI, Sept. 13: At least 64 activists of the Tibetan Youth Congress (TYC), including Vice President Tashi Targyal and Information and International Secretary Tenzin Dehsal, were detained by Delhi Police after staging a protest near the venue of the 18th BRICS Summit in New Delhi late Saturday night.
The protest began at around 9:45 p.m. on September 12 along Mandapam Bhairon Marg, close to the summit venue at Bharat Mandapam, with participation from at least 15 regional chapters of the TYC.
The protesters denounced Chinese President Xi Jinping’s participation in the two-day summit and his presence in New Delhi. Xi, visiting India for the first time in nearly seven years, also held bilateral talks with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi on the sidelines of the summit on September 12.
Speaking to Phayul, TYC General Secretary Tenzin Lobsang said the detained activists were being held at several police stations across Delhi. According to him, 19 men and 10 women were being held at Mandawali Police Station, three men and two women at Ashok Vihar, 10 people at Gokulpuri, and 16 at Gazipur. He added that there were four additional TYC members who were detained in New Delhi before they could join the protest were also taken into custody, although their whereabouts remained unknown at the time of publication.
Lobsang said the organisation is in communication with senior police officials and other authorities seeking the release of the detained activists, and expressed hope that they would be released by Sunday evening. The latest detentions came amid heightened security and surveillance around Tibetan areas in the capital in the days surrounding Xi’s visit.
Sources told Phayul that two members of the TYC Centrex—Joint Secretary Tenzin Dekyong and Culture Secretary Thupten Tsering—were placed under house arrest by Delhi Police shortly after Saturday night’s protest. The move reportedly came as authorities intensified preventive measures against possible demonstrations linked to Xi’s presence in the capital.
Sources further said that the vicinity surrounding the Tibetan Samyelling Settlement in Majnu Ka Tila, where the TYC protest movement had been organised and mobilised, remained under close surveillance by Delhi Police and the Intelligence Bureau. Members of the TYC Centrex were also reportedly subjected to continuous monitoring, with their mobile phones being tracked by authorities.
The reported surveillance and preventive detentions come against the backdrop of heightened security measures in New Delhi during the BRICS Summit, as Tibetans sought to use Xi’s visit to draw international attention to Tibet and reiterate their opposition to Chinese colonial rule in occupied Tibet.
Phayul is continuing to follow developments, including efforts to ascertain the whereabouts of the four detained activists, whose current location remains unknown. Further updates will be provided as more information becomes available.
