Chinese police arrested five Tibetans, mostly Buddhist monks, whom they allege worked at the behest of foreign forces to persuade three people to set themselves on fire in anti-Beijing protests. The arrests are the latest in an intensified crackdown on self-immolations by authorities in tightly controlled Tibetan areas and indicate that China’s new leadership is responding to the protesters’ calls for greater freedom by clamping down even harder. The five Tibetans were arrested by police in northwestern Gansu province and included a 21-year-old monk from neighboring Sichuan, the official Xinhua News Agency said Thursday. Three of the other Tibetans were identified as local monks.—AP
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