The four monks - Apo Tashi, aged 22, Tsering Gyaltsen, 19, Tsering Wangchuk, 22 of Guru Monastery and Rigzin Dorjee of Jamjor Monastery – distributed pamphlets and raised Tibetan national flags on that day.

As the Chinese police came to arrest the four monks minutes after they began their protest, three monks escaped on motorbike under the protection of local residents who blocked the police action.

Another monk, who captured the protest on camera, was arrested as his motorbike broke-down.

Since then the whereabouts of the four monks remain unknown.

The whole Nyagrong region as in other parts of Tibet witnessed peaceful protests by the Tibetans in 2008.

The Tibetan residents in lower Nyangrong region expressed their resentment against the government’s forced imposition of “patriotic education”, a campaign to compel Tibetans to denounce His Holiness the Dalai Lama and toe the party line. While the residents of upper part of the region boycotted farming in protest. Many of them were arrested for refusing to conform to the government orders.

A Tibetan named Pema Yeshi has been sentenced to death with a two-year reprieve for allegedly pasting and distributing pamphlets in March 2009.

Two other Tibetans, Sonam Gonpo and Tsangtsog were sentenced to life imprisonment and 16-year jail term respectively.

Later in April, the Tibetan residents of Kyachue Thangkya protested and the Chinese government open fired on the protesters.

In 2009 and 2010, the local residents of Khawa Lungri strongly protested against the government for exploiting mineral resources from a sacred hill.