Grand ceremony and parade mark 60 years of Chinese Communist Party rule in Tibet

BEIJING (AP) — With leader Xi Jinping looking on, China marked 60 years of Communist Party rule in Tibet on Thursday with speeches and a parade in front of the 17th-century Potala Palace, the home of the Dalai Lama until he fled to India in 1959.

Speakers hailed economic development in the remote region in the foothills of the Himalayas and stressed the need to fight separatism. Opposition to Chinese rule has been largely quashed by a decades-long campaign of repression that has imprisoned Buddhist monks and demolished some monasteries.

“Tibetan affairs are China’s internal affairs, and no external forces are permitted to interfere. All schemes to split the motherland and undermine stability in Tibet are doomed to fail,” senior Communist Party leader Wang Huning told a crowd of 20,000 flag-waving people in a large public square.

Communist forces occupied Tibet in 1951, two years after emerging victorious in a civil war and taking control of China. The anniversary marked the government's establishment of the Tibet autonomous region in 1965. It is called Xizang in Chinese.

The parade, along a wide avenue between the square and a covered stage for special guests, included floats highlighting the regions of Tibet and large dance troupes that stopped in front of the square to perform. Troops and police marched in formation, shouting out their mottos. Others held up wide banners that proclaimed Communist Party slogans.

“The great achievements of the Tibet autonomous region over the past 60 years fully demonstrate that only under the leadership of the Communist Party of China ... can Tibet achieve prosperity and progress, create a bright future, and enable people of all ethnic groups in Tibet to live a happy and healthy new life,” Wang told the gathering.

The 13-story Potala Palace, now a tourist site, provided an impressive backdrop from its perch atop a rocky outcropping in Lhasa, the capital of Tibet.

The Dalai Lama, who recently turned 90, still lives in India and is the spiritual leader of Tibet. China considers him a threat and says it has the right to appoint his reincarnation after his death. Many overseas Tibetans are critical of Chinese rule and a government-in-exile has been set up in the mountainous Indian town of Dharamshala.

In this photo released by Xinhua News Agency, Chinese President Xi Jinping meets with representatives of military personnel stationed in Lhasa in western China's Tibet Autonomous Region on Wednesday, Aug. 20, 2025. (Li Gang/Xinhua via AP)

In this photo released by Xinhua News Agency, Chinese President Xi Jinping waves to people from a vehicle as he arrives at Lhasa in western China's Tibet Autonomous Region on Wednesday, Aug. 20, 2025, to attend an event to mark the 60th anniversary of the consolidation of Beijing's long-contested rule over the Himalayan territory. (Shen Hong/Xinhua via AP)

In this photo released by Xinhua News Agency, Chinese President Xi Jinping waves as he arrives at Lhasa in western China's Tibet Autonomous Region on Wednesday, Aug. 20, 2025, to attend an event to mark the 60th anniversary of the consolidation of Beijing's long-contested rule over the Himalayan territory. (Yan Yan/Xinhua via AP)

KAMPALA, Uganda (AP) — Vote counting was underway Friday in Uganda’s tense presidential election, which was held a day earlier amid an internet shutdown, voting delays and complaints by an opposition leader who said some of his polling agents had been detained by the authorities.

Opposition leader Bobi Wine said Thursday he was unable to leave his house and that his polling agents in rural areas were abducted before voting started, undermining his efforts to prevent electoral offenses such as ballot stuffing.

Wine is hoping to end President Yoweri Museveni's four-decade rule in an election during which the military was deployed and heavy security was posted outside his house near Kampala, the Ugandan capital, after the vote.

The musician-turned-politician wrote on X on Thursday that a senior party official in charge of the western region had been arrested, adding there was “massive ballot stuffing everywhere.”

Rural Uganda, especially the western part of the country, is a ruling-party stronghold, and the opposition would be disadvantaged by not having polling agents present during vote counting.

To try to improve his chances of winning, Wine had urged his supporters to “protect the vote” by having witnesses document alleged offenses at polling stations, in addition to deploying official polling agents.

Wine faced similar setbacks when he first ran for president five years ago. Museveni took 58% of the vote, while Wine got 35%, according to official results. Wine said at the time that the election had been rigged in favor of Museveni, who has spoken disparagingly of his rival.

Museveni, after voting on Thursday, said the opposition had infiltrated the 2021 election and defended the use of biometric machines as a way of securing the vote in this election.

Museveni has served the third-longest tenure of any African leader and is seeking to extend his rule into a fifth decade. The aging president’s authority has become increasingly dependent on the military, which is led by his son, Muhoozi Kainerugaba.

Uganda has not witnessed a peaceful transfer of presidential power since independence from British colonial rule six decades ago.

Voters line up to cast their ballots at a polling station, during the presidential election, in the capital, Kampala, Uganda, Thursday, Jan. 15, 2026. (AP Photo/Brian Inganga)

Election officials count ballots after the polls closed for the presidential election at a polling station in Kampala, Uganda, Thursday, Jan. 15, 2026. (AP Photo/Brian Inganga)

An election official holds up unmarked ballots during the vote count after polls closed for the presidential election, at a polling center in Kampala, Uganda, Thursday, Jan. 15, 2026. (AP Photo/Brian Inganga)

A political representative speaks as he works to observe and verify the counting of ballots after polls closed in the presidential election at a polling station in Kampala, Uganda, Thursday, Jan. 15, 2026. (AP Photo/Brian Inganga)

A supporter of leading opposition candidate Bobi Wine cheers while watching election officials count ballots, after polls closed at a polling station in Kampala, Uganda, Thursday, Jan. 15, 2026. (AP Photo/Brian Inganga)