DHARAMSHALA: Reports coming out of Tibet say that police opened fire on Tibetans praying for the long life of His Holiness the Dalai Lama’s birthday in eastern Tibet last Saturday, leaving several Tibetans severely injured.

On the morning of His Holiness the Dalai Lama’s 78th birthday on 6 July, hundreds of Tibetans, including monks and nuns of Nyitso monastery and Geden Choeling nunnery, gathered to hold prayer service and incense offering ceremony on a hill in Tawu in Karze (incorporated into China’s Sichuan Province). They were stopped from moving towards the hill by a contingent of People’s Armed Police, who later opened fire on them.

Six Tibetans who were injured in the police firing have been identified as Jangchup Dorjee, a monk of Nyitso monastery and the younger brother of Palden Choetso, the nun of Geden Choeling nunnery who self-immolated in November 2011; Tsering Dhondup and Tashi, monks of Nyitso monastery; Urgyen Tashi from Dakchu town; Nyendak from Mikya town and Tashi from Geden Choeling nunnery. Tashi Sonam sustained fatal head wound, while Urgyen Tashi is in critical condition in a hospital in Chengdu.

The situation remains tense following the incident. A large number of armed police have been deployed in the region and Nyitso monastery is under lockdown.

Tashi Sonam, a monk of Nyitso monastery, sustains fatal head injury in the police firing