Chinese police fire on Tibetan protestors

A Buddhist monk was shot in the arm after Chinese police opened fire against Tibetan protestors, according to a Britain-based Free Tibet organisation

Chinese police have fired on Tibetan protesters, according to the Britain-based Free Tibet organisation. The rights group said that the protestors were demonstrating after a series of deadly self-immolations by people campaigning against Chinese rule of their Himalayan region. Police used tear gas and opened fire during a clash with Tibetans outside a police station in the western province of Sichuan, which borders Tibet and a Buddhist monk was shot in the arm.

The human rights group did not say when the violence happened and news agency Reuters could not reach police in the area for comment.

Human-rights activists have criticised China for trampling on religious freedom and culture in Tibet, which it has ruled strictly since People's Liberation Army troops "peacefully liberated" the region in 1950. Tibetans have recently been protesting against Chinese rule by setting themselves on fire after pouring petrol over themselves.

In 2012, over 80 Tibetans staged such protests and most of them are believed to have died. A 37-year-old Tibetan monk set himself on fire outside a police station in Sichuan's Dawu county on Tuesday, the third fatal self-immolation in eight days, Free Tibet said. A Elsewhere, a 20-year-old woman set herself on fire on Monday in Ngaba county in Sichuan, and a 34-year-old men set himself alight in front of a police station in the western Chinese province of Gansu last week.

The Dalia Lama, spiritual leader of the Tibetan Buddhists, fled to India in 1959 after a failed uprising against Chinese rule. He has decribed Tibetan self-immolations as “sad but understandable”.

However, China says its rule ended serfdom in Tibet and brought development to a backward, poverty-stricken region. They have denounced the Dalai Lama as a separatist.