Chinese show banners at Indian villagers celebrating the Dalai Lama’s birthday

They were seen across the Indus river at Koyul, one of the last settlements in the Demchok sector in eastern Ladakh

Chinese nationals displayed banners in protest from across the Indus river, close to the Line of Actual Control (LAC), when Indian villagers were celebrating the birthday of the Dalai Lama in Demchok in eastern Ladakh. According to Urgain Tsewang, village head of Koyul (Kakjung), one of the last settlements in the Demchok sector, the Chinese, comprising of Army personnel and civilians, came in five vehicles down unpaved roads and raised the banners 200 metres from a community centre where the Dalai Lama’s birthday was being celebrated. The incident occurred around 11 a.m. on July 6 at Dola Tamgo in Koyul village along the Indus river. “We don’t understand Mandarin. They had scribbled something on the banner. They stood there for about half an hour,” Mr. Tsewang told The Hindu. “The land where they stood and protested on the Dalai Lama’s birthday is our land. It belongs to India,” he stated.