2015-02-03
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Herders from Durbed banner in China’s Inner Mongolia region demonstrate in front of the banner government building, Jan. 30, 2015.
(Photo courtesy of SMHRIC)
Chinese authorities in Inner Mongolia have jailed four ethnic Mongolian herders for their role in “illegal demonstrations” following weeks of protests by communities whose grazing lands have been taken away by the government.
Four protesters from Durbed Banner (in Chinese, Siziwangqi) were given 15-day administrative sentences, a punishment handed by police to perceived troublemakers without the need for a trial.
Dozens of herders have gathered in government offices in Durbed’s Ulaanhua township in protest at the Jan. 31 detention of Odonhuaar, Davshilt, Naranhuaar and the Feb. 1 detention of Adiyaa, rights groups and relatives said.
“Three people were detained for 15 days [recently], and then on Feb. 1, the police detained another person, called Adiyaa,” Enhebatu Togochog, director of the New York-based Southern Mongolian Human Rights Information Center (SMHRIC), told RFA.
Davshilt’s daughter said she was concerned for her parents, especially her mother’s health.
“The procuratorate called my parents [Davshilt and Odonhuaar]…so they went out, the prosecutors issued a warrant, and then the police and prosecutors arrested them,” she said.
Calls to the Durbed Banner police department rang unanswered during office hours on Monday.
The detentions are linked to a street protest in Ulaanhua on Jan. 30, when some 200 herders marched with banners calling for the return of their grasslands and the “plunder” of their lands.
The Durbed herders were evicted from their lands under an “ecological migration” policy aimed at limiting overgrazing and stave off the southward creep of the Gobi Desert into China’s grasslands.
But herders say desertification isn’t caused by grazing, and that officials use it as a pretext to clear the way for mining and forestry operations.
The prosecution document issued to Odonhuaar, a copy of which was seen by RFA, accuses her of “being involved in illegal gatherings and demonstrations organized by Davshilt.”
Ignoring demands
The detentions come amid escalating herder protests in recent weeks, which have also taken place in Sunid Right Banner (in Chinese, Suniteyouqi), Urad Middle Banner (in Chinese, Wulatezhongqi), as well as in Shiliin-hot and Abag Banner (in Chinese, Abageqi).
“Chinese authorities continue to ignore herders’ demands in the face of protests entering their fourth week,” SMHRIC said in a statement e-mailed to RFA on Tuesday.
In contrast with recent silent protests and petitions in Beijing and the regional capital Hohhot, protests at the local level have become more vocal, with banners and chanting, it said.
On Jan. 31, some 200 herders from the neighboring Sunid Right Banner also took to the streets of the banner capital Saihantal township, demanding a meeting with government officials, who sent in riot police to quell the protest.
