Chinese police shot and wounded four protesters this week in an ethnic Tibetan community in the province of Sichuan, Xinhua news agency said today.
Chinese paramilitary police unload equipment on a road on the outskirts of Hutiaoxia, southeast of Zhongdian, in China's Yunnan province today. Hundreds of paramilitary troops were setting up camp in the town, which is on the road to Zhongdian, a city in a Tibetan area of Yunnan known as Shangri-La.
Citing police sources, the state-run agency said police acted in self-defence when they opened fire on Sunday. It is China's first admission its security forces have caused injuries in their crackdown on anti-government demonstrations.
Chinese authorities also said they had arrested dozens of people involved in the protests that have swept Tibet and prompted Beijing to pour in troops to crush further unrest.
China's response to last week's violence - which it says was orchestrated by the Dalai Lama, the exiled Tibetan Buddhist leader - has sparked international criticism and clouded preparations for the Beijing Olympics in August.
In a phone call with Chinese counterpart Yang Jiechi, U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice urged China to show restraint to protesters and open dialogue with the Dalai Lama.
China says 13 "innocent civilians" died in riots last week in Tibet's capital Lhasa, after days of peaceful protests led by monks. Exiled Tibetans say as many as 100 Tibetans have died.
Mindful of the international condemnation of its military crackdown on pro-democracy protests in Tiananmen Square in 1989, China says its security forces in Lhasa exercised "maximum restraint" and did not use lethal weapons.
But the Xinhua report makes clear the same did not apply in other parts of western China, where it has been sealing Tibetan areas from foreigners and tightening security.