On March 8, 1989, Li Peng issued a martial law decree for Lhasa on behalf of the State Council, following Deng Xiaoping's approval of martial law in Tibet, preventive arrests, and the decision that journalists and cadres could be shot on the spot; troops entered Lhasa on March 7.
Beginning on March 6, 1989, large numbers of armed police forces in Lhasa fired without warning at Tibetans gathered at the Jokhang Temple. Tibetans on retreat routes were ambushed, and Tibetans who had not taken part in the gathering were also strafed, provoking open opposition from the regional Party committee, people's congress, CPPCC, and public security department.
On March 2, 1989, a large number of Tibetans gathered in the square in front of the Jokhang Temple in Lhasa, shouting "down with corrupt officials," demanding the Dalai Lama's return to Tibet and the return of power to the Tibetan people. Hu Jintao dispatched armed police to clear the area, but it failed.
During the Lhasa crackdown in March 1989, in opposition to the indiscriminate shooting by armed police, more than 3000 Lhasa public security officers disobeyed orders and withdrew from the city, refusing to cooperate with the armed police.