Tybetańczycy - Redux

Militarized police in the central Tianfu Square in Chengdu, the closest major Chinese city to Tibetan-majority regions, and with a large Tibetan population, is particularly on guard against Tibetan protest or self-immolations in this symbolic central square that sits under the gaze of a towering statue of Mao. Chengdu, Sichuan, China. According to the Dharamsala, India-based NGO, Tibetan Centre for Human Rights and Democracy, security has been beefed up since 2002 when the popular Tibetan lama Trulku Tenzin Delek Rinpoche and his nephew, Lobsang Dhondup were convicted, on what have been described as baseless charges for allegedly masterminding a series of bombings in the square. After the 2008 uprising in Tibet, China increased its domestic security budget on public security, which covers the civilian police force, the People's Armed Police and prisons to five times the average spent per person on public security in non-Tibetan prefectures in Sichuan and over twice the amount spent for security in the provincial capital, Chengdu. Lobsang was executed hours after his trial and Trulku Tenzin Delek Rinpoche was given a suspended death sentence and would remain in prison until he died in 2015.