| A Chinese policeman watches Buddhist worshippers make wishes at the Tibetan Lama Temple in Beijing on Wednesday. AFP PHOTO |
BEIJING: Police in China shot dead more protesters in Tibetan-inhabited areas as unrest spread, official media and an advocacy group said on Wednesday, amid signs of a physical and virtual lockdown in the region.
China’s Sichuan province, which has big populations of ethnic Tibetans, has been rocked this week by violent clashes, which were some of the country’s worst since huge protests against Chinese rule broke out in 2008.
The United States on Tuesday said that it was “seriously concerned” about the situation, and called on Chinese security forces to “exercise restraint” and urging authorities to allow journalists and diplomats into flashpoint areas.
There were indications on Wednes-day that the authorities were restricting movement and communications in the region as unrest spread.
Phone numbers that previously worked were suddenly unavailable and one local number reached by Agence France-Presse said that authorities had closed off his town.
The situation has prompted Lobsang Sangay, head of the India-based Tibetan government-in-exile, to call on the international community “to not remain passive” and “to intervene to prevent further bloodshed.”
The unrest comes at a time of escalating tensions in Tibetan-inhabited areas, where at least 16 people have set themselves ablaze in less than a year—including four this month—over a lack of religious freedom.
In the latest bout of violence, police opened fire on a protest in Seda county on Tuesday, killing two protesters and injuring scores of others, according to the exiled Tibetan government and advocacy group Free Tibet.
The official Xinhua News Agency, citing local authorities, said that police had shot dead only one “rioter” and injured another, adding that they had to use lethal force after a violent mob attacked them with knives, gasoline bottles and guns.
The government, police and locals in Seda contacted by Agence France-Presse would not comment.
Religious repression
The incident came a day after security forces shot at a crowd of Tibetans protesting against religious repression in the nearby town of Luhuo, killing at least two and injuring more than 30, according to locals and rights groups.
Monks reached by phone on Monday and Tuesday at the Drakgo Monastery in Luhuo said that police shot at the crowd through the windows of the police station, and wounded people had taken refuge in the monastery as thousands of armed officers stood guard outside.China’s foreign ministry, however, said that the Luhuo protesters were also violent.
On Tuesday, spokesman Hong Lei accused “overseas secessionist groups” of trying to discredit the government by hyping accounts of what happened.
By Wednesday, Agence France-Presse was unable to telephone anyone in Luhuo—not even police and government offices—as calls were met with a rapid beeping tone, suggesting that phone lines in the town may have been disabled.
Phone calls to hotels and restaurants in neighboring Daofu county were met with the same ring tone.
The few people that Agence France-Presse was able to contact described a huge security presence and restrictions on people’s movements.
In Aba county, where Free Tibet said another protest erupted on Monday but was soon quelled by police with tear gas, a hotel worker said that there were “lots of armed forces and armed vehicles on the street.”
“No outsiders can come freely into Aba. People who want to come in must be screened and show valid ID,” the man, who refused to be named, told Agence France-Presse.
Another hotel employee in the same place confirmed the big security presence.
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