Melbourne, Mar.14 (ANI): Fires and violent protests have broken out in the Tibetan capital of Lhasa as demonstrations this week against Chinese rule escalated.
"Shops were set on fire in violence in downtown Lhasa on Friday afternoon,'' China's state-run Xinhua news agency reported.
"Witnesses said a number of shops were burnt and some others nearby shut down business."
The fires broke out in a market and street near the Jokhang temple in the old part of Lhasa. The temple is regarded as one of the most sacred sites for Tibetan Buddhists.
International Campaign for Tibet spokeswoman Kate Saunders said the rights group had received reports that the Tromsikhang market in Barkor Street, which has a line of stalls that run around the temple, was on fire.
A police car was also set on fire near Ramoche temple in Lhasa, The Australian reported.
Foreigners in Lhasa reported Buddhist monks and others had protested throughout the city, and that they had been told to stay away from the Jokhang temple and the surrounding area.
Hundreds of monks were involved in the protests earlier in the week in Lhasa, rights groups said.
The International Campaign for Tibet said earlier today that troops had surrounded the monasteries, amid fears of a crackdown by Chinese authorities.
In the meantime, Nepal decided to block access to Mount Everest in early May to ensure China can take the Olympic torch to the roof of the world.
The move is to prevent pro-Tibetan protests as the flame makes its way to Beijing.
It comes amid an eruption of protests this week believed to the biggest in Tibet in two decades, and also coincides with demonstrations in India by Tibetan exiles seeking to pressure China ahead of the Olympics in August.
According to The Australian , expedition teams will not be allowed to move from Nepal's Everest base camp from May 1 to May 10.
The country's Tourism Minister Prithvi Subba Gurung was quoted as saying "We have received a request from China not to allow people on the mountain while the Olympic torch is on Everest."
The China Tibet Mountaineering Association said this week overcrowding and environmental pressures meant they had to ask all commercial expeditions to stay off the mountain on the Tibetan approach until after May 10.
Tibetan groups had already reported that a ban would be put in place to ensure the flame reaches the top without trouble. But mountaineering officials in Beijing denied a ban had been put in place.
This week's protests have coincided with the anniversary of a 1959 uprising against Chinese rule that Tibetan groups say was brutally crushed and led to the deaths of tens of thousands. (ANI)
