BEIJING - Two Tibetans were killed in a suppression of security on a Buddhist monastery, in the southwest of China a group of activists said, after the closure of the restive area to foreigners.
Authorities have sealed off the Kirti monastery in Sichuan province and ordered into a rehabilitation program he continued unrest triggered last month when a young monk himself set on fire and died in an apparent anti-government demonstration.
The international campaign for Tibet, a rights group based in the United States with exile sources who have contacts in the region, said the paramilitary police raided the monastery Thursday night and took away more than 300 monks.
Police then beat a group of lay people who had been standing vigil outside Kirti, leading to the death of two elderly Tibetans, in the 1960s said ICT.
"People had their arms and legs broken, an old woman had her leg broken in three places, and cloth was stuffed in their mouths to stifle their cries," exiled Kirti monk was quoted saying by the rights group.
Police in the district of Aba, where the monastery is located, said they had no information and local residents refused to comment on contacted by AFP.
The Xinhua official news agency said Friday that local authorities had begun a "legal education" program to Kirti due to "problems" it and "illegal activities" committed by some monks.
Local police say monk immolation on 16 March "was a carefully planned and implemented, criminal case aimed at outbreak of disturbance," Xinhua said in a separate report Saturday.
Tensions run deep in the Tibetan regions of China, where many Tibetans accuse the Government of trying to dilute their culture, and cite concerns about what they see as increasing domination by the majority of China's ethnic Han.
This tension erupted into violent protests in March 2008 in the capital of Tibet Lhasa, which is then distributed in neighbouring areas Tibetans in China, including Kirti.
Travel agencies told AFP Saturday that Aba and Prefecture populated Tibetan Ganzi nearby were closed to foreigners.
"The provincial tourism office told us two days ago that foreign tourists can go to Aba Ganzi,"an employee at the branch of Sichuan of China Travel Service told AFP."" Another travel agent said that she believed that the ban is related to the "Tibetans".
Exiled Tibetan spiritual leader, the Dalai Lama has warned of "catastrophic consequences" If the situation at Kirti worsens. Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs, however, said Tuesday the situation was "normal."
Copyright ? AFP 2011. All rights reserved. "More".
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