Fifty monks have been injured and at least four were taken to hospital after clashes between police and Tibetan monks near an ancient monastery that has been under tight security since anti-Chinese unrest swept across the Himalayan plateau in March.

Pro-Tibet activists said that the incident happened when a monk left the Kirti monastery after obtaining a pass from the authorities.

“The returning monk was beaten so badly by the armed police that he was bleeding when he managed to return to the monastery,” the Free Tibet Campaign said. Other monks went to the police station to protest against the treatment of their colleague and an argument ensued. Police said that they would call local authorities to discuss the matter but shortly afterwards two truckloads of armed officers arrived and began to beat the monks.

A local source told The Times that as many as seven monks may have been taken to hospital for treatment, but added that it was difficult to confirm the numbers. The Free Tibet Campaign said that four were in hospital and that the abbot of Kirti may have been among those hurt.

The beatings were carried out by the paramilitary People’s Armed Police, which is responsible for maintaining order and suppressing riots. At least four 15-member teams of the paramilitary have been posted at the police station since March and it was these, not the five or six police manning the office, who were responsible, according to a local source who spoke on condition of anonymity.

The incident happened late last week but, with most monks deprived of their mobile telephones and with ordinary lines either cut or carefully monitored, news is slow to trickle out of the remote areas.

The Government deployed paramilitary forces and soldiers across the region after a riot in the Tibetan capital of Lhasa in March, when Tibetans set fire to shops and offices and killed at least 18 people, most of them ethnic Han Chinese. The unrest spilt over into other provinces. A riot was reported around Kirti, in the Aba Tibetan prefecture, in which shops were set alight and police opened fire, killing possibly up to eight people.

Since then the number of monks in Kirti has dwindled from about 2,000 to around 200, sources said. Some have been detained and others have been expelled in a sweeping patriotic education campaign in which monks are required to denounce the Dalai Lama and swear allegiance to Beijing. The few who remain are allowed to visit the nearby town only after obtaining an official pass.

Chinese state media reported that police found guns, bullets, swords and explosives in the monastery. Visitors to the area, which remains closed to foreigners, said that there were frequent roadblocks.

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