Two Tibetans were arrested by Chinese officials yesterday for protesting outside their village police station in Dza Wonpo, Kardze, eastern Tibet.

Yonten and Lhagyal were reportedly immediately arrested as they shouted for Tibetan independence in the village and threw leaflets into the air calling for an end to China’s rule in Tibet, sources said.

Yonten and Lhagyal. The two Tibetans arrested yesterday.

The pair both posted a statement on WeChat before the protest which said, “[those] who have laid their lives for the sake of Tibetans, for those bravehearts who are fighting for the cause of Tibet’s independence, I heard about the pain and the suffering you have undergone.”

They also expressed solidarity with four monks detained on 7 November in the same village for scattering leaflets with a pro-independence message. The monks were Kusal, 20, Tamey, 18, Tsultrim, 18 and Soeta, 18. The religious teacher of the four was also detained but was later released.

The protests come after a series of Chinese propaganda campaigns in the area which have created resentment among local Tibetans, a source in a Tibetan monastery in southern India said.

Chinese officials have been touring the region encouraging locals to praise the CCP and defend China’s human rights record, while interviews with Tibetans have been recorded for state media broadcasts.

CCP officials in the area have also reportedly been pursuing a policy of resettlement of nomads and ordering Tibetans to replace images of the Dalai Lama with CCP leaders in their homes.

The combination of these policies and China’s efforts to get positive media coverage from them has created divisions among Tibetan communities, between those who have resisted the propaganda drive and citizens who have obeyed because they fear punishment by Chinese officials.