装甲部队已经部署在拉萨周围，目击者称坦克已经进入拉萨市区并部署在布达拉宫前的北京路，拉萨大召寺，小召寺，色拉寺，哲蚌寺全部戒严。北京东路和朵森格路饭店内的游客通过望远镜看到示威喇嘛中有人扛出白底花纹旗帜，疑为西藏独立组织的雪山狮子旗，游客报道的骚乱人数也远超过外界估计，达到3000人左右。此骚乱为1989年以来最为严重的一次。
3月14日西藏僧侣走上Amdo Labrang街头，西藏过去几天进行了大规模示威行动，为20年来最大规模的抗议事件，14日西藏的三大寺庙已被中国警方包围，此图为手机所摄。（路透摄）
拉萨街头的军车和藏人（3月14日）
达赖喇嘛、美、欧关注拉萨局势
流亡海外的西藏精神领袖达赖喇嘛表示，他对拉萨的局势深表关注。美国欧盟呼吁中国克制。
达赖喇嘛发表声明，呼吁中国停止在那里"使用野蛮的暴力"。
西藏首府拉萨已连续数日发生大规模藏人抗议活动，最新报道说，有人焚烧警车和商店，目击者称在拉萨听到了枪声。
目击者对BBC记者说，一些当地居民现在也加入了抗议活动。
另一名目击者则对BBC表示，300名僧人周三在打算离开色拉寺曾与阻挡他们离开的武警战士发生冲突，至少有一名僧人被武警打翻在地。
美国政府呼吁北京保持克制，并同达赖喇嘛对话。它表示，中国必须尊重西藏文化。
正在布鲁塞尔召开欧盟首脑会议的欧盟各国领导人呼吁克制。
有报道说，西藏拉萨的示威者和武警的冲突已经至少造成两人死亡。
拉萨的抗议示威活动已经持续了好几天，据说这是过去20年以来西藏规模最大的反北京政府示威。
有目击者说，已经在拉萨街头看到了坦克和伤者被用担架抬走。
“国际声援西藏运动”的一张照片上可看到武警。
“听到枪声”
此外，美国驻华大使馆对在华美国公民发布的旅行公告说，"大使馆已接到正在拉萨的美国公民的现场报告，有人听到枪声，并发现有暴力事件迹象。"
大使馆通告建议美国公民避免前往可能发生抗议示威的地点，建议打算前往西藏的美国公民推迟其行程。。
一名住在拉萨市区的外国游客说，她听到了枪声。这位不愿意透露姓名的游客对记者说，"是的，我们可以听到枪声。但现在已经很安静了。"
她说，"我们也了解不多，我们被告知不要离开酒店。"
“情况很乱”
一名拉萨藏人通过电话对记者说，"现在外面的情况很混乱。"
他说："人们开始焚烧汽车、摩托车和公共汽车。到处都是浓烟，他们还扔石头和砸窗户。我们很害怕。"
另一名藏人则说，很多地方都有抗议活动。他还说，"不仅仅是僧人在抗议。现在，一些居民也加入了抗议行列。"
西藏流亡政府发言人在印度达兰萨拉说，"我们呼吁国际社会劝说中国当局以温和的方式对待这些示威。"
学者分析
BBC采访：辜学武谈藏人抗议为何升温
对西藏问题有深入研究的德国波鸿大学东亚政治研究所所长辜学武对BBC表示，藏人的抗议活动在这个时刻升温有两个原因，“一个是达赖政府包括他本人，对中央政府与西藏流亡政府之间的长期谈判进展进步不大表示深深失望”。
辜学武说，"从某种意义上说，达赖喇嘛的忍耐限度几乎是到了极限，所以出现以前没有出现的大规模暴动。"
他说，"西藏和其它地方藏人走上街头抗议，与中国政府在西藏实施的政策并非很佳有关系"，"中国政府以经济发展来促进藏人对中国的归顺的效果明显没有得到一个很强烈的支撑。"
此外，"随着奥运的日益接近，西方对中国的压力越来越大，包括国际舆论界对中国的压力开始升温，这些压力主要有三， 一个是人权，一个是西藏问题，一个是环保。"
辜学武说，在这样情况下出现的西藏问题升温，并不令人感到意外。
Tibet in turmoil as riots grip capital
(CNN) -- 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.
Tibetans throw stones at army vehicles as a car burns on a street in the capital Lhasa.
1 of 3 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 China.
Roughly 1,000 people hurled rocks and concrete at security forces and military trucks pushing back riot police, a witness told CNN.
A Tibetan guide said armed police backed by armored vehicles were blocking major intersections in the city center and that an entire street in a busy shopping area outside the Jokhang temple "seemed to be on fire." The Associated Press reported.
He said he had heard "cannon fire" and that tear gas had been used against protesters.
In a statement, the Dalai Lama, Tibet's spiritual leader and the head of the Tibetan government in exile, said he was "deeply concerned" by the developing situation and said the protests were "a manifestation of the deep-rooted resentment of the Tibetan people" under Chinese rule.
Chinese authorities have blamed the Dalai Lama, exiled since 1959, for the unrest.
"I appeal to the Chinese leadership to stop using force and address the long-simmering resentment of the Tibetan people through dialogue. I also urge my fellow Tibetans not to resort to violence," the Dalai Lama said.
Protesters appeared to be targeting shops and vehicles owned by Han Chinese, the predominant ethnic group in China. Watch how ethnic Chinese have been caught in the unrest »
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 AP, a witness said hundreds of monks and civilians were involved in the protests, setting police cars and army vehicles alight.
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. 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.
Indian police stop Tibetan marchers
"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 permission has not been granted. CNN reporting on Tibet was being blacked out Friday in mainland China.
The U.S. Embassy in Beijing warned Americans in Tibet to avoid areas where demonstrations were taking place and to remain indoors.
"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.
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.
