Police staged a massive security operation across Tibetan occupied areas of China today as the deadline for rioters and protestors to give themselves up to the authorities passed.

Convoys of paramilitary vehicles were seen on roads in the provinces of Gansu and Sichuan, which border on the Tibetan autonomous region.

In Rebkong, Qinghai province, which saw some of the earliest protests by monks in the current wave of disturbances back in February, riot squads were jogging in formation towards Tibetan areas of town this morning.

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They were joined by hundreds of paramilitary police. Fire crews, which in China are run by the paramilitary police organisation, were also waiting in full protective gear.

Police in plain clothes were patrolling the streets around the main monastery, where monks staged an illegal incense burning ceremony on Sunday afternoon. A monk told The Daily Telegraph that there had so far been no reprisals.

The Free Tibet campaign reported that near the Sichuan town of Aba troops were seen parachuting from helicopters.

Full article here.