Apparently the Chinese don't think it is a small thing:
A Tibetan-inhabited region of China appeared to be under lockdown Thursday after it was rocked by deadly clashes, as exile groups gave grisly details of how the unrest unfolded.
The west of Sichuan province, which has big populations of ethnic Tibetans, many of whom complain of repression, was earlier this week hit by some of the worst unrest since huge protests against Chinese rule in 2008.
Security forces fired into two separate crowds of protesters in Luhuo and Seda towns on Monday and Tuesday in the remote prefecture of Ganzi, which borders Tibet.
If news is leaking out of this interior location, it must be big.
UPDATE: More on the growing tensions and violence:
The three clashes, all in the past week, killed several Tibetans and injured dozens. They mark an escalation of a protest movement that for months expressed itself mainly through scattered individual self-immolations.
It's the result of growing desperation among Tibetans and a harsh crackdown by security forces that scholars and pro-Tibet activists contend only breeds more rage and despair.
Remember that China's leaders consider controlling Tibet a core interest of the state. Check out a map and consider how the Chinese would feel with a pro-India Tibet jutting into China's most populous regions. Then consider what that would do for separatist feelings in the northwest. And then consider whether China would be a major power if it is pushed out of range of influencing Central Asia to become more of a coastal state.
Whatever the Chinese do, it won't be letting Tibet go free.
