14th August, five tibetan nuns were arrested and beaten with sticks by police, after they unfolded a Tibetan flag and shouted pro-independence slogans in the Barkor, a few hours before the visit of Li Tieying, a member of the Politburo of the CCP and guest of honour at the Potala Palace reopening ceremony, visited the Lhasa Public Security headquarters. Li praised the police for "their brave and uncompromising long-term struggle against all hostile elements upsetting the social order", adding that "it is an arduous task to maintain long-term stability in Tibet", according to a Lhasa Radio broadcast monitored by the BBC. Four days earlier Li had visited the Barkor Street Police station, telling police on duty there that "Barkor street must be made into the most stable and safest place in Lhasa. We must strictly punish all criminals and lawbreakers".

August 23, 8 am in Barkor. Three monks from Phenpo pulled out a forbidden Tibetan national flag and shouted pro-independence slogans before their arrest. The protests followed a major chinese ceremony of reopening of Potala palace in Lhasa on 9th August. "It was a funny thing - it seemed that it wasn't at all meant for the Tibetans in Lhasa to know about the ceremony", said a western tourist who was in the city. "The whole event seemed to be surrounded by secrecy. Of course they got it on TV later but there was no parade through town or walk about the leaders," he said, describing the atmosphere in the town as "very tense" with an "amazing" number of police. (EuroTibet News N·1)