Chinese police fire tear gas on protesting Tibetan monks
Dalai Lama runs the Tibetan government-in-exile
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Wednesday, 12, Mar 2008 12:36
Chinese police have fired tear gas in an attempt to break up a protest involving hundreds of monks demonstrating on the streets of Tibet.
Security personnel surrounded about 500 monks as they marched near a police station in Lhasa.
A witness told the Associated Press new agency: "There were probably a couple of thousand armed police … wearing different uniforms. Police fired tear gas into the crowd."
"The police were armed with electric prods. Other uniformed security forces had firearms," another witness told the Reuters news agency.
On Monday hundreds of monks staged a protest in Lhasa, defining authorities in a move a Chinese foreign ministry spokesman described as "an illegal activity that threatened social stability".
Demonstrations have been taking place this week to make the anniversary of the failed 1959 uprising against China's rule of Tibet.
Several hundred Tibetan exiles are also marching from the Indian town of Dharamsala, where their spiritual leader the Dalai Lama leads the government-in-exile, to Tibet in protest against the Beijing Olympics.
China has received worldwide condemnation for its human rights record ahead of the 2008 games.