A/HRC/13/40/Add.1 engaging in smashing, looting and burning. On that day, rioters burned down 24 stores and 2 police stations and set fire to 81 police and civilian vehicles. Some 200 innocent bystanders, Government workers and police officers were injured. Seeking to restore law and order, the local Government immediately took steps to bring the situation under control and protect life, property and fundamental human rights. During these incidents, law enforcement was carried out in a civilized manner by the local police, who consistently displayed a high degree of restraint; even though they had shields to protect themselves during the rioters’ brutal attacks, scores of police officers were injured from blows and burns, one critically. The Chinese People’s Liberation Army did not take part in the response to these incidents. • Questions regarding the use of lethal or injurious weapons: In their efforts to deal with the violent criminal acts in the Tibet Autonomous Region in accordance with the law and to restore law and order, the local Government authorities exercised maximum restraint: law enforcement was consistently carried out in a lawful and civilized manner, and no lethal or injurious weapons were carried or used. For this very reason, there were only 242 casualties among law enforcement personnel, including 23 seriously injured and one dead. On 16 March 2008, in the Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture of Aba, Sichuan Province, rioters broke into the Aba Township police station and stabbed the police officers. When the rioters stole police firearms from a safe, the police fired warning shots, in accordance with the law, to no effect. They were thus compelled to open fire in self-defence, striking and injuring four rioters, who managed to escape with their co-conspirators in the confusion. Immediately afterwards, the officers involved in the incident, acting pursuant to regulations, submitted a report to their superiors, which the national police promptly published. The firing of weapons in self-defence by the Aba police was fully consistent with the Basic Principles on the Use of Force and Firearms by Law Enforcement Officials, adopted at the Eighth United Nations Congress on the Prevention of Crime and the Treatment of Offenders. • Alleged control of reporting by the media: During the violent criminal acts in Lhasa, when public order was severely disrupted and rioters were wilfully beating, burning and killing innocent persons, it was not safe for foreign reporters in Lhasa to cover the events. Reporters for the British publication The Economist and other foreign publications who were at the scene did provide coverage of the events. After the situation calmed down, the Chinese Government immediately organized a series of inspection tours to Tibet for representatives of 19 foreign media and delegations of foreign diplomats based in China. The Chinese media, including the Tibetan regional media, all reported on the events. • The legal basis for the arrest and detention of monks and nuns: In the wake of the destructive events in Lhasa, the competent authorities of China and the Tibet Autonomous Region arrested a number of major criminal suspects who had participated in the events and had been involved in their organization and plotting. Among these were a number of monks and nuns. International human rights instruments, including the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (art. 29, para. 2), stipulate that “[i]n the exercise of his rights and freedoms, everyone shall be subject only to such limitations as are determined by law solely for the purpose of securing due recognition and respect for the rights and freedoms of others and of meeting the just requirements of morality, public order and the general welfare in a democratic society”. During the aforementioned incidents the rioters showed absolutely no respect for the rights and freedoms of innocent persons but wilfully disrupted public order and harmed the welfare of others. The Chinese and Tibetan Regional Governments consider that the lawful measures taken were fully consistent with the relevant provisions of international human rights instruments. China is a country 9