AKIPRESS.COM - Chinese police have opened fire on Tibetan demonstrators in south-western China, wounding 10 people, after the Tibetans protested against the detention of a respected village leader, a Tibetan rights group said.
The crackdown in the Ganzi prefecture of Sichuan province, a flashpoint for Tibetan protests against Chinese rule, underscores simmering tensions between Tibetans and the Chinese authorities.
The British-based International Campaign for Tibet group, citing several Tibetan sources in exile, said late on Wednesday the area "is now under tight control, with local Tibetans including the elderly and children subject to interrogation".
Photographs that circulated on social media showed Tibetans with "serious wounds on the head and torso" after the incident, the group said.
Human rights activists say China tramples on religious freedom and culture in Tibet, which it has ruled with an iron fist since People's Liberation Army troops "peacefully liberated" the region in 1950.
The government in Ganzi could not be reached for comment, Reuters reports.