China closes the door on Tibet w/source

excerpts from - www.atimes.com...


Subdued Tibetans on Wednesday marked the beginning of their traditional New Year, called Losar, with their troubled Himalayan region sealed off from foreign journalists and tourists and blanketed by Chinese security forces lest protests against Beijing's rule break out again.

For many Tibetans, a campaign to boycott customary Losar festivities, most of which would normally take place over the next three days, has turned a usually celebratory occasion into a time of commemoration and mourning for those who died or were tortured and jailed during riots in the Tibet Autonomous Region last March.

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As Losar approached, Chinese security forces stepped up their presence in Tibet and also locked down towns in Gansu, Qinghai and Sichuan provinces where many Tibetans live. Police reportedly discovered several kilograms of explosives under a bridge in Tibet's eastern Qamdo prefecture, which borders Sichuan.

The heightened security is likely to remain long after the first three days of Losar have passed, because there is even greater potential trouble ahead.

On March 10, how will Tibetans choose to remember the 50th anniversary of the failed uprising against Chinese rule that led to the Dalai Lama's flight into exile? This is a date of tremendous emotional import; the protests that it inspired last March culminated in the bloodshed that followed four days later.