On January 5, 2009, public security officials Detained and beat Ngawang Sonam, a Tibetan in his early 30s, when he briefly staged a peaceful political protest near the PSB office in the seat of Ganzi (Kardze) county, Ganzi TAP, Sichuan province. According to RFA’s source, Ngawang Sonam tossed into the air a large number of protest leaflets and slips of paper with Tibetan prayers printed on them. After about 3 minutes, security officials fired a “tranquilizer gun” at him, beat him, and took him away.