Chinese troops shoot at Tibetans in curfew town in Tibet

10 August 2008/Free Tibet Campaign/TibetPress

Free Tibet Campaign has received reports from a highly reliable source that two women were fired at 9 August, in Ngawa town (Chinese: Aba) in the Kham region of Tibet (Chinese province: Sichuan) as they visited a mobile telephone shop. According to the source, two women were visiting a mobile telephone shop on Ngawa's main road to recharge their mobile phone when shots were fired at them at 4.30pm local time on Saturday 9 August. A 7 pm curfew has been imposed on Ngawa town by the authorities, but this incident occurred several hours before the curfew was due to come into force. The source heard the shots being fired from his home on the same street. It was at least 20 minutes before the source went out on to the street to see what had happened as the situation seemed very tense. On entering the street the source met one of his friends, a local shopkeeper. The shopkeeper told the source that he had seen one of the women, a Tibetan named Sonam Wangmo, lying in the street hit by a bullet in the leg. The shopkeeper had also seen the other woman, whose nationality could not be confirmed, lying in the street beside the mobile phone shop with a bullet wound to her hand. By the time the source went out into the street the women had been taken away by the authorities to a hospital. No information is known regarding their well being or their current location. The shopkeeper said that he had been told by eyewitnesses to the shooting that the shots had come from a nearby building that is known to be occupied by Chinese soldiers very recently arrived in the town. According to other sources in the area, Ngawa town has been filled with around 10,000 Chinese soldiers since the beginning of August. The sources have reported that an order has been issued by the local authorities that no one is to be on the streets after 7 pm. The sources have also reported that checkpoints manned by armed soldiers have been set up on each road in Ngawa town and Tibetans registered in other towns are not being allowed in to Ngawa. Free Tibet Campaign is unable to confirm at this stage the reason additional troops have been quartered in Ngawa town this month, however it is feared the increased military presence is in order to suppress anticipated protests by Tibetans during the Beijing Olympics. Ngawa town was the scene of a brutal crackdown by Chinese security forces in March following the outbreak of protests throughout Tibet against Chinese rule. On March 16 Chinese security forces fired live rounds into a crowd of peacefully protesting Tibetans, killing at least 13 according to eyewitnesses(1). The shooting was widely reported in the international media. Director of Free Tibet Campaign, Stephanie Brigden, said: "The location of these two women, potentially seriously injured, must be made available immediately. The Chinese government must also launch an immediate and open investigation in to this atrocity." "Following the events in March, when Chinese security forces fired live rounds into a crowd of peaceful protests in Ngawa town, Free Tibet is concerned that once more the Chinese Government is sanctioning the use of lethal force." "Gordon Brown must publicly condemn this shooting and the worsening human rights situation in Tibet when he meets President Hu at the Games later this month and clarify immediately the purpose of the military build-up in Ngawa county."