Herders of western Southern Mongolia’s Hangin Banner issued a video statement on December 2, 2017, protesting a Chinese company called “Mo Lin He Livestock Breeding Station” for illegally occupying the local Mongolian herders’ grazing lands.

In separate video clips sent to the Southern Mongolian Human Rights Information Center (SMHRIC) by the herders, at least 10 Chinese workers from the Hangin Banner Government Agricultural and Animal Husbandry Bureau and the Mo Lin He Livestock Breeding Station raided the local Mongolian herders who resisted the livestock breeding station’s illegal occupation of their grazing land.

After beating the herdswoman Ms. Urgumal, her sister, and her father, the raiders drove away the Urgumals’ entire flock, which consisted of 272 sheep, according to Urgumal’s sister, who attempted to resist the robbery in the video clip.

In a written statement, Urgumal said, “On November 29, 2017, a dozen Chinese from the Mo Lin He Livestock Breeding Station raided us.” Urgamal continued, stating that the group, “buried our well that we and our livestock drunk from, and told us that we are not allowed to graze our animals there.”

In the video statement, Urgumal, sitting next to her parents and another victim, Li Jinlian, said, “In September 2017, the Government of Hangin Banner once again issued a property license to the Mo Lin He Livestock Breeding Station, ignoring the Autonomous Region People’s High Court’s earlier ruling in favor of the herders.”

“Without our knowledge, how can our grazing land where we lived for generations be turned to the property of this livestock breeding station? How can our land become a property of these Chinese robbers?” Urgumal asked.

On July 31, 2015, the Government of Hangin Banner sold the herders’ land to the livestock breeding station and issued a “license to use state-owned land” to the company, enabling it to carry out multiple rounds of raids in the local community.

After two years of legal proceedings, on July 24, 2017, the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region People’s High Court ruled in favor of the herders, deciding that, “The appellant Hangin Banner Mo Lin He Livestock Breeding Station’s arguments are proven unfounded. Therefore, the Court shall not honor the appellant’s claim.”

With no authority to override the Autonomous Region People’s High Court’s decision, the Hangin Banner Government is apparently violating the relevant Chinese laws to accommodate the livestock breeding station, possibly due to certain under-the-table deals.

“Nothing can be more outrageous than this,” Mr. Tsetsenbaatar, a writer and blogger, said in a WeChat discussion group after viewing the video clips that have been circulated widely among the Mongolians. “The Chinese who came to our Mongolian land as beggars are now robbing us Mongolians under the broad day light.”

Tsetsenbaatar rallied the Mongolians over the WeChat, stating, “We, as descendants of Chinggis Khan, must rise up to reclaim our land, livelihood, and dignity.”