Chinese police officers opened fire on a crowd of unarmed Tibetans who were celebrating the birthday of the Dalai Lama in a volatile area of Sichuan Province, injuring nine people, two of them critically. http://www.nytimes.com/2013/07/10/world/asia/tension-flares-as-tibetans-celebrate-dalai-lamas-birthday.html?ref=world  The shootings took place on Saturday, but government restrictions on communications in the region prevented the news from immediately reaching outsiders. The violence occurred as more than 500 people gathered for a picnic on the slopes of a mountain in the town of Tawu, or Daofu in Chinese, that is considered sacred by local residents.  The crowd included Buddhist monks and nuns from nearby monasteries but also scores of laypeople who were celebrating the 78th birthday of the Dalai Lama, an event that has traditionally been banned by the authorities. Despite the prohibition on such gatherings, rights advocates say the police often look the other way as celebrants burn incense or hang prayer flags to mark the occasion.
On Tuesday, China’s top official in charge of ethnic minorities vowed to continue the Communist Party’s emphasis on social stability, which includes demonizing the Dalai Lama.
The Dalai Lama does not advocate an independent Tibet, but has been seeking what he describes as meaningful autonomy for China’s 5.4 million Tibetans.
The violence in Tawu began after dozens of police officers arrived at the scene of the birthday celebration and ordered participants to leave. After religious leaders tried to reason with the officers, witnesses said, there was a brief standoff that quickly escalated. “They smashed doors and windows of our vehicles and started beating Tibetans gathered in the area and dispersed the Tibetans and started shooting at the crowd,” one local resident told Radio Free Asia.
Two most critically injured are monks from the Nyitso Monastery in Tawu. The men were taken to a hospital in Chengdu, the provincial capital, with gunshot wounds to the head. One of them, Ugyen Tashi, may have been shot as many as eight times,