[24. January 2012] RFA

Chinese authorities shot dead as many as five Tibetans and seriously wounded 40 others on Tuesday in the second day of bloodshed as protests escalated in the troubled Kardze (in Chinese, Ganzi) prefecture in Sichuan province, local sources said. A crackdown has been launched in Serthar (in Chinese, Seda) county where the incident occurred, with about 40 protesters arrested and all public movements limited, the sources said.

“A kind of martial law has been imposed,” a local resident, calling himself Ganta, told RFA. “Tibetans are confined to their homes as the Chinese police fire on anyone who ventures outside in the streets,” another local source said. Read more