Following a heavy-handed police crackdown on peaceful protests by Tibetan Buddhist monks from three of the main monasteries in Lhasa, dozens of monks and lay people clashed with armed police in the streets, overturning police vehicles, lighting fires and smashing Chinese-owned shops in the Tibetan capital.

While Lhasa has been relatively quiet after Chinese troops locked down the capital, fresh protests have erupted in Labrang in the Amdo and Kham regions of Tibet (now annexed into the Chinese provinces of Qinghai, Gansu, and Sichuan) The Tibetan Government in Exile has urged the United Nations to "send representatives immediately and intervene and investigate the current urgent human rights violations in Tibet."

Large-scale protests against Chinese rule by monks, nuns, students and lay people have occurred outside of what China defines as the “Tibet Autonomous Region”, in the following Tibetan areas:
- Rong Gonchen Monastery, Rebkong County (Ch: Tongren xian), Malho (Ch: Huangnan) "Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture", Qinghai Province.
- Kirti Monastery, in Ngaba County (Ch: Aba), Ngaba "Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture", Sichuan Province.
- Labrang (Ch: Xiahe), Sangchu County, Kanlho "Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture", Gansu Province.

The widespread demonstrations, initially sparked by protests commemorating the 49th anniversary of the Tibetan National uprising of 1959, have been quelled with consistently heavy-handed tactics by the authorities. Reports of casualties are slowly being substantiated. On Sunday the Tibetan government in exile said it had reports from numerous sources that put the figure at 80-100 following the protests in Lhasa; however reports are still coming in of fatal shootings in other Tibetan areas. The Tibetan Centre for Human Rights and Democracy, based in Dharamsala, India reported on the evening of Sunday 16th March that eight dead bodies have been brought to the Ngapa Kirti Monastery, and that at least 30 Tibetans had been felled after armed security personnel fired indiscriminately at protesters.

In Lhasa, the Chinese authorities issued a notice to Tibetans who have taken part in demonstrations to give themselves up by midnight on Monday, March 17th. A promise of leniency had been given to those who surrender and rewards have been offered to those who inform on protesters, but "those who harbor or hide criminal elements shall be punished severely according to law upon completion of investigations.”

Not waiting for the deadline however, armed Chinese police have been conducting house-to-house searches and making arbitrary arrests. There is no reliable estimate of the number of detentions but reports suggest wide-scale raids and arrests across Lhasa. A curfew is now in place in Lhasa and the city is completely sealed off.