Chengdu, China  - The air is charged with uneasiness in the Tibetan quarter of the city of Chengdu in south-western China as security forces patrol shopping and residential areas.

"There are lots of police, even some in civilian clothes," whispers an ethnic Tibetan shop owner.

Until recently, armed police (Wujing) had monitored all Tibetans in Chengdu, he adds.

This paramilitary force was advised to quell all protests in areas inhabited by Tibetans.

Several tens of thousands of Tibetans live in Chengdu, the capital of China's Sichuan province, although the exact figure is withheld by the city administration.

Tibetan monks in their red robes march past sentries in the area between Wuhou Temple and the University of Nationalities.

Sun-tanned Tibetans donning wide-rimmed hats examine shop displays of traditional clothing, Buddha statues and travel kits to the delight of photo-shooting tourists.

Chengdu used to be the most convenient starting point of backpackers for excursions into the Tibetan hinterland before China's central government imposed strict travel restrictions.

"There are currently no Tibet package tours offered," asserts the female employee of a Chengdu youth hostel.

And there are also no tours into the Tibetan areas of Gansu and Sichuan provinces, she adds.

If at all, the only possibility would be excursions into the Tibetan villages of Qinghai province, she says, although only a few travelers would currently book them.

Further down the street, a policeman checks the papers of a bicyclist, while one of his colleagues has fallen asleep in a nearby police car.

Vehicles of the security forces are parked at virtually every street corner.

"This quarter of the city is under constant observation (by the police), because the situation in Tibet is still unsettled," explains a shop attendant.

The police are obviously intent on quelling any flare-up of unrest before it can get out of hand.

Another Tibetan says that at least one policeman and a Buddhist monk had been killed only days before in his home village of Lahuo in Gansu province, just a couple of hundred kilometers away from Chengdu.

Other rumours even talk about renewed riots in Chendu itself.

"There were deaths," says a Tibetan tourist guide, although he is unable to confirm this.

A police car is parked at the main entrance of the University of Nationalities, which serves students from all of China's 50-odd ethnic nationalities, and a curfew has been imposed, says a university lecturer on condition of anonymity.

The blood red banner of the Peoples Republic of China is fluttering on a pole high above the campus.

"I have Tibetan co-students and I get along well with them," says a female, ethnic Chinese student.

Tibetans in the provincial capital would suffer less than their counterparts in the countryside and, therefore, there were fewer clashes with the Chinese, say Chengdu residents.

During the riots in Lhasa on March 14, it was particularly shops and houses of ethnic Han Chinese that were assaulted.

Lunch break at the University of Nationalities sees a colourful congregation of young people gathering in the canteen.

A young couple bats a few balls in the campus tennis court.

The university's radio station plays a modern pop song, in which the performer hails the inseparability of China's peoples: "We are as One." (dpa)