Story contested
January 24, 2012
China sought Tuesday to downplay reports of a deadly police crackdown on Tibetan communities the day previous, accusing "overseas secessionist groups" of trying to discredit the government.
International "Free Tibet" advocacy groups had claimed that police fired at Tibetans protesting against religious repression in the southwestern province of Sichuan, killing at least one and injuring over 30.
China's foreign ministry said, however, that a mob had stormed stores and a police station, prompting the clash in which one protester died and five officers were injured.
"Overseas forces of 'Tibet independence' have always fabricated rumors and distorted the truth to discredit the Chinese government with issues involving Tibet," spokesman Hong Lei was cited as saying by the state Xinhua news agency.
A monk reached by phone Tuesday at the Drakgo Monastery in Luhuo told news agency Agence France-Presse that he estimated around 1,000 to 2,000 armed police were now on duty in the area.
"We are treating 32 injured people inside the monastery, and two of them are critical. One of them has a bullet in the head," said the monk, who would not be named, told AFP.
The India-based Tibetan government-in-exile, meanwhile, said as many as six people may have been killed in the clashes, according to AFP.
At least 16 people in Tibetan-inhabited regions have set themselves on fire in the last year in protest at Chinese rule over Tibet, including four this month alone.
Author: Darren Mara (AFP, AP)
Editor: Sarah Berning