Mongolians protest over herder's death in northern China

[News_Editor]

Mongolians protest over herder's death in northern China

2011-05-26 03:40:17 GMT+7 (ICT)

BEIJING (BNO NEWS) -- Almost 2,000 students on Wednesday marched though a town in Inner Mongolia to urge Chinese authorities to "respect the rights and dignity of Mongolian herders", a rights group said in a statement.

The Southern Mongolian Human Rights Information Centre said students from Mongolians schools gathered in front of the local government headquarters in the city of Xilinhot to protest the brutal killing of a Mongolian herder named Mergen by a Chinese coal truck driver. On May 10, Mergen was brutally killed while he was blocking a caravan of hundreds of Chinese coal haulers from passing through his grazing land.

Protests have been taking place since May 10 since authorities have failed to address the protesters' concerns.

On Saturday, hundreds of Mongolian herders took to the streets to protest against the killing of the herder and the destruction of Mongolian herders' grazing land. Armed police blocked hundreds more from joining the protest, while three herders and one student were severely beaten and detained.

According to the New York-based organization, Chinese mining companies and private miners have destroyed Southern Mongolian grasslands to open up hundreds of coal mines, displacing the local herders and killing their livestock.

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