Chinese security forces should stop violent attacks on
protesters in Tibet and allow the United Nations to conduct an independent probe
into alleged abuses, Human Rights Watch said today.
To quell the protests that continued in Lhasa and Sangchu County, Chinese security
forces responded by beating protesters, firing live ammunition, surrounding Ganden,
Drepung and Sera monasteries, and cutting phone lines into the monasteries,
according to media reports and sources in the capital, Lhasa. There are unconfirmed
reports that some protesters have been shot. The city is now reported to be under
curfew and there is a heavy presence of security forces on the streets.
The Chinese government has accused the groups associated with the Dalai Lama of having "masterminded" the violence in the Tibetan capital of Lhasa, in which at least two persons were reported dead.
Photograph: Mark Ralston/AFP/Getty Images
Image: Tibetan Buddhist monks are blocked by riot police as they shout slogans and carry the Tibetan national flag at a protest near the historic Labrang Monastery in the town of Xiahe, Gansu Province.
Also read: The golden line to Lhasa
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