<i>Internet brings images of clashes from "closed" Tibet </i>

This picture released by the Tibetan Centre for Human Rights and Democracy (TCHRD) shows Chinese Security forces opposing Buddhist monks as they march in Sangchu County, Gansu Province in North Eastern Tibet on March 14, 2008. Fresh protests involving Tibetan Buddhist monks erupted in China's northwest Gansu province yesterday with security forces using tear gas to disperse the biggest rally, campaign groups said. China has given the protesters till Monday to give themselves up.Photo: AFP

Travellers' images and witness accounts of the deadly violence that rocked Lhasa Friday crisscrossed the Internet in near real time, opening up a widening channel of information in defiance of the Chinese authorities.
Amateur cellphone photos and video clips showing what were described as confrontations between police and Tibetans protesting Chinese rule poured onto websites big and small, including those for major news media, Tibetan rights groups and tourist blogs.
Several people were killed and many others injured in the Tibetan capital, an official at the city's medical emergency centre told AFP. Radio Free Asia reported at least two people were killed by police gunfire.
The BBC news site (news.bbc.co.uk) showed half a dozen pictures submitted by readers of crowds and police in riot gear and appealed to the public to send in more photos and videos.
Websites monitoring human rights in Tibet also posted a slew of digital evidence of the clashes, along with accounts from those on the scene.
At least 900 people rioted in Lhasa, and more than 1,000 members of the security forces were sent to quell the unrest, the London-based Free Tibet Campaign said, citing Tibetans in the city.
The website of the Tibetan Centre of Human Rights and Democracy (www.tchrd.org/press) reported that "thousands of Tibetan monks and lay people converged and staged demonstrations in the streets of Sangchu County" in Gansu, and posted cellphone photos as evidence.
The website said that more than 500 monks from the Labrang Tashikyil Monastery took to the streets calling for independence, and police later fired live rounds into the air and beat the protesters.
Another website (steve.ulrike.stivi.be), a personal travel blog run by two Belgians who happened to be in Lhasa when the violence erupted, said it had monitored events there over the previous four days, posting photos and video clips.
The site described a "peaceful protest" at the start of the week in the capital's Bakhor Square.
"Suddenly there is panic. Six or seven monks are arrested and driven away," as a large number of policeman arrive, they write. "Tibetans are very scared because of the stories about the prisons and tortures."
The site has attracted more than 150 comments, most of them thanking the travellers for their "courage and journalistic fearlessness," and encouraging them to distribute their photos as widely as possible.
A few comments expressed skepticism, suggesting that the photos did not show violent repression.
Non-Chinese journalists are not allowed to travel to Tibet without permission, effectively sealing off the troubled region from regular outside scrutiny by the media.
But digital technology coupled with the Internet has made it nearly impossible to seal off parts of the world where media access is closely controlled by the authorities.
Myanmar's military leaders were caught off guard when cellphones captured and transmitted images around the world showing soldiers shooting peaceful protests led by Buddhist monks last September. At least 31 civilians were killed, and 74 are still missing, according to a UN report.
A month later the Myanmar junta cut Internet connections to the already isolated nation.