Lhasa: Opponents of Chinese rule in Tibet set fire to vehicles and shops on Friday as tear gas filled the streets and gunfire rang out in the Tibetan capital, Lhasa, according to witnesses and human rights groups.
The protests -- initiated by Buddhist monks -- have been growing since Monday, the anniversary of the failed 1959 Tibetan uprising against Beijing rule. Tibet, an autonomous province, has long sought independence from Beijing.
Roughly 1,000 people hurled rocks and concrete at security forces and military trucks pushing back riot police, a witness told CNN.
Protesters appeared to be targeting shops and vehicles owned by Han Chinese, the predominant ethnic group in China.
A main market in the capital was set on fire, and some Tibetans were hospitalized with serious injuries, according to Kate Saunders, a spokeswoman for the International Campaign for Tibet, which promotes human rights and democratic freedom in Tibet.
Friday's violence started when police tried to stop a peaceful protest by monks at the Ramoche Temple, Tashi Choephel of the Tibetan Center for Human Rights told CNN from Dharamsala, India.
"The monks from the Ramoche Temple on the north side of Lhasa, they started a peaceful demonstration and they were blocked by the People's Armed Police," Choephel said.
Speaking to The Associated Press, a witness said hundreds of monks and civilians were involved in the protests, setting police cars and army vehicles alight. A Lhasa resident said police had imposed a curfew, closing off all roads into the city center.
A photo e-mailed to CNN from a source in Lhasa showed what appeared to be Chinese military vehicles containing security forces armed with riot shields at the Ramoche Temple. Video Watch reports of rioting in Tibet »
Saunders said violence broke out as bystanders joined the protest. "Apparently local people -- lay people -- got involved, and a police car was set on fire. This was followed by Tromsikhang Market being set on fire," she said from London.
The market has many Chinese traders. Saunders said Tibetans are concerned about the influx of Chinese into the area. Some ethnic Tibetan shopkeepers hung scarves outside their stores in an effort to spare them from the protesters' wrath, a witness reported.
Saunders said her organization had confirmed reports that some Tibetans had been hospitalized with serious injuries, though she didn't know the nature of the injuries or how many people were being treated.
A Han girl who spoke to CNN from Lhasa said she had been beaten by a group of Tibetans.
"I am now in hospital with a bandage on my head," she said. "The trains are closed and I am not sure if I can take a plane back, or if I can reach the airport. All is chaotic now."
Another Lhasa resident, who also withheld his name, said his electricity and telephone service had been cut off. He spoke to CNN on his cell phone.
China continues to impose reporting restrictions in Tibet and the neighboring province of Xinjiang. CNN sought permission to enter Tibet on Friday morning Beijing time. So far, this perrmission has not been granted. CNN reporting on Tibet was being blacked out Friday in mainland China.
The US Embassy in Beijing warned Americans in Tibet to avoid areas where demonstrations were taking place and to remain indoors.
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"The Embassy has received first-hand reports from American citizens in the city who report gunfire and other indications of violence," the embassy said in a statement.
U.S. National Security Council spokesman Gordon Johndroe in Washington issued a statement urging respect from the Chinese government.
"Beijing needs to respect Tibetan culture, needs to respect multi-ethnicity in their society," Johndroe said.
"We regret the tensions between the ethnic groups and Beijing. The president has said consistently that Beijing needs to have a dialog with the Dalai Lama."
Meanwhile French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner says EU leaders have launched an appeal to China to show "restraint" in Tibet, AP said.
The unrest follows days of demonstrations in Tibet and neighboring India over Chinese rule in Tibet and comes less than five months before China is to stage the Olympic Games in Beijing.
Choephel told CNN that the Games were seen by campaigners as an opportunity to highlight "repression" and "human rights violations" inside Tibet.
On Thursday, two monks from the Drepung Monastery in Lhasa tried to kill themselves to protest Chinese rule, according to Radio Free Asia, a nonprofit corporation funded by the U.S. government. Chinese authorities have blamed the exiled Tibetan spiritual leader, the Dalai Lama, for the unrest.
Security forces also fired tear gas to disperse hundreds of protesting Tibetan monks near Lhasa on Tuesday, according to Radio Free Asia.
In India, authorities broke up a march Thursday by 100 Tibetan exiles who had planned to trek from the northern city of Dharamshala to Tibet's border in a "Free Tibet" protest.
Saunders told CNN the scale of the protests against Chinese rule was unprecedented since the imposition of martial law by Beijing in 1989.
U.S. National Security Council spokesman Gordon Johndroe in Washington issued a statement urging respect from the Chinese government.
"Beijing needs to respect Tibetan culture, needs to respect multi-ethnicity in their society," Johndroe said.
"We regret the tensions between the ethnic groups and Beijing. The president has said consistently that Beijing needs to have a dialog with the Dalai Lama."
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