Cameron Stewart, Associate Editor with The Australian newspaper, has just returned from Lhasa. Access to the Tibetan capital is still heavily restricted for western journalists.

Read Cameron’s full report: China’s Iron Fist Cracks Down To Subdue Tibetan Rebels
Audio and photo links included.

Cameron Stewart, Associate Editor with The Australian newspaper, has just returned from Lhasa. Access to the Tibetan capital is still heavily restricted for western journalists.

Cameron Stewart in Lhasa
Courtesy of The Australian

In the ancient backalleys of Tibet’s capital Lhasa a grim military operation has played out this week, hidden from the eyes of the outside world. As night falls, hundreds of Chinese troops fan out across this rebellious city, armed with riot shields and machine guns. They set up sentry posts on street corners and dispatch patrols in groups of six soldiers, three with shields and three with guns. These patrols spend the night snaking down the lanes of Lhasa’s Tibetan quarter, looking for any sign of dissent from the locals. They glare at me as they pass, angry at the presence of a foreigner.

When the sun rises, the soldiers do not melt away, but are replaced by a new rotation of troops. The military strangehold on Lhasa by day is maintained with one chilling addition - snipers are installed on rooftops around the city’s most holy site, the Jokhang Temple, ready to train their guns on the hundreds of Tibetan pilgrims praying below in Barkhor Square.

Only months after the Olympics, there is no post-games euphoria in Tibet. Hopes of greater autonomy and freedom have been stifled by Beijing which - stung by bloody anti-Chinese riots in March and by the indignity of the subsequent Olympic torch relay protests - has come down on Tibetans with an iron fist.

China’s Iron Fist Cracks Down To Subdue Tibetan Rebels

Audio: Tibet Under The Gun

Photo Gallery

Blog: The Tibet You Don’t Hear About