'CHINESE forces shot dead three Tibetans and wounded about 30 amid a mass refusal by Tibetans in China to observe the Chinese New Year. The shootings occurred in Luhuo, southwestern China, during a protest against the arrest of Tibetan activists.
Several hundred Tibetans, including monks, gathered at about noon in Luhuo after a number of people were arrested for distributing pamphlets with the slogan "Tibet needs Freedom", according to Free Tibet, independence campaigners based in London.
The protesters marched about half a mile to the offices of the local government where the forces opened fire, Free Tibet said. The dead man was named as Yonten, 49.
Since a riot in the Tibetan capital, Lhasa, in 2008 developed into the largest anti-Beijing movement since the 1959 rising in which the Dalai Lama went into exile, Tibetans in the Chinese border provinces have refused to celebrate the Chinese New Year.
A Tibetan source said: "The situation is very volatile and the police are particularly sensitive because Tibetans have refused to mark the New Year to show their discontent with Beijing rule."
Police rarely shoot demonstrators in China and such extreme action highlights the volatility in ethnic Tibetan regions of China. The Chinese authorities distributed money and fireworks and gave orders that yesterday, the first day of the Chinese Year of the Dragon, must be celebrated. The Tibetan New Year is not until February 22.
The Tibetan source said: "Officials have tried to force Tibetans to celebrate. They have cancelled holiday for the Tibetan New Year and are allowing it only for the Chinese New Year but Tibetans don't want to celebrate so that creates tension."
The dead man and those wounded are believed to have been taken to the local monastery, Free Tibet said.
Many Tibetans gathered there later amid rumours of more demonstrations. Internet connections to the town have been cut, a common tactic by China to suppress the spread of information about such incidents. Robert Barnett, a Tibet expert at Columbia University, New York, said the shooting was one of the most serious incidents since the 2008 riots.
"It is very unusual for the security forces actually to open fire."
Beijing has been angered by the rise in Tibetan areas of suicides in which protesters burn themselves to death, shouting their loyalty to the Dalai Lama as they die. There have been 16 such self-immolations, mostly by monks, in less than a year, and the pamphlets seized in Luhuo reportedly said there would be more.
Beijing has used increasingly belligerent language to condemn such suicides as acts of terrorism inspired by the Dalai Lama.
Tibetans shot dead for failing to observe Chinese New Year | The Australian
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