China Police Open Fire on Tibetans as Protests Spread

By Bloomberg News - Jan 25, 2012 10:14 PM ET
Jan. 25, 2012

Hrm, the way the headline is written is rather deceptive, is this the US trying to meddle in China's affairs? - ChrisPolice in southwestern China opened fire on protesters in a Tibetan enclave during a clash Jan. 24, the second straight day of deadly protests in the area, the official Xinhua News Agency reported.

The confrontation occurred after a crowd gathered two days ago near the Chengguan Police Station, Xinhua said yesterday, citing an unidentified police officer. The crowd refused to disperse and then stormed the station with knives, gasoline bottles and stones, according to the report.

Police opened fire after attempts to disperse the crowd by non-lethal means failed, Xinhua reported. One protester was killed and another injured, in addition to 14 police wounded, according to the report.

“The Tibetan people are unhappy and restive about their lot in China,” Mohan Guruswamy, chairman of the Centre for Policy Alternatives, a New Delhi-based research group, said in an e-mail. “There is ample evidence of it, and the acute Chinese sensitivity to any comment on Tibet is only proof.”

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