Riot policemen patrol the main street in Xiahe in Gannan Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture, Gansu province February 7, 2009 during the Monlam celebration, or the Great Prayer Festival, one of the most important festivals in Tibetan Buddhism. Xiahe is the home to the Labrang Monastery which is the biggest Tibetan monastery outside Tibet. As Chinese celebrate the beginning of the Year of the Ox with fireworks and family feasts, a silent but stubborn struggle is being waged over a similar Tibetan holiday with tense as many troops patrolling the streets of Xiahe at the first day of the Tibetan festival. REUTERS/Nir Elias (CHINA)