UPDATE: 5 October 2016 - Free Tibet has learned that, under pressure from China, the authorities at Larung Gar have asked 2,000 nuns to leave the site voluntarily. Nuns who did not agree to leave were at risk of being forcibly removed. The deadline for the 2,000 departures was 28 September. It is unclear at this stage whether those departures have taken place.

New photos acquired by Free Tibet show the scale of the damage done to Larung Gar Buddhist Academy by Chinese demolition teams and the effect of forced removals on residents.

Free Tibet has also received a video showing the final moments spent at the site by a group of evicted residents before they are made to begin the journey back home. The video, which was shot on 29 September, shows monks and nuns who have been forced to leave Larung Gar departing by bus.

70 nuns and 40 monks were made to depart on 29 September, all of them originally from the so-called Tibetan Autonomous Region (TAR), hundreds of miles away. In the video they can be seen bidding farewell to their friends and classmates, who look on sadly from outside.

No guidelines have been issued by authorities as to whether those departing can join monasteries and nunneries in the TAR upon returning. The number of residents in monasteries and nunneries in the TAR is tightly regulated, while restrictions on the movement of monks and nuns make it difficult for them to travel from one area to another.