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Chinese Police 'Fired On Tibetans Marking Dalai Lama Birthday'
BBC NEWS, CHINA
July 9, 2013: Chinese police opened fire on a group of Tibetans who had gathered to mark the Dalai Lama's birthday, leaving several people injured, a rights group and news reports say. The incident happened in Daofu in Sichuan province on 6 July.
Monks and other Tibetans had gathered at a sacred mountain to mark the exiled Tibetan spiritual leader's birthday with offerings and incense. Police shot at the crowd and used tear gas, the reports said.
Beijing has not commented yet on the incident. Calls from the BBC to local authorities in Daofu did not connect. Local officials told AFP and Reuters news agencies that no incident took place.
Confirming details about incidents in the region is difficult - Chinese state media report some but not all. Foreign journalists are not allowed in and the flow of information is tightly controlled.
'Shot at crowd'
The International Campaign for Tibet said in a statement that many of those assembled at the mountain were monks and nuns. "Large numbers of armed police and soldiers were deployed, with one source reporting at least seven army trucks and police vehicles at the scene," it said.
Security personnel attempted to prevent the crowds from making their offerings, it said. "Without warning, according to several Tibetan sources, police opened fire on the unarmed crowd and used tear gas," it said.
Two monks were shot in the head and several others injured, the ICT statement said.
Phayul, an exile-run news portal, said one monk was in a critical condition after being shot in the head, with at least four more "severely injured". "They smashed doors and windows of our vehicles and started beating Tibetans gathered in the area and dispersed the Tibetans and started shooting at the crowd," an unidentified local resident was quoted as saying by Radio Free Asia.
One of those shot was the brother of a nun who set herself on fire in 2011, RFA and Phayul said. In recent years more than 110 ethnic Tibetans - mostly young monks and nuns living in areas outside Tibet - have set themselves on fire in apparent protest against Beijing's rule.
Most of the incidents have taken place in the areas of the Sichuan province with large ethnic Tibetan populations. Late last month, the Chinese government issued a strong denial of reports that its long-standing ban on openly worshipping the Dalai Lama had changed. The move followed reports that restrictions on worshipping the Dalai Lama had been eased in some areas.
