International

10 killed in Tibet violence

BEIJING: Even as residents in the Tibetan capital of Lhasa said on Saturday evening that the city was by and large quiet but with a large military presence a day after troubles in the region left at least 10 people dead, China gave protesters in Tibet an ultimatum to surrender.

The official Tibetan judicial authorities gave the protesters time until Monday night to turn themselves in and benefit from leniency. “Criminals who do not surrender themselves by the deadline will be sternly punished according to the law,” said a notice on the local government website.

Xinhua news agency said 10 innocent civilians had been shot or burnt to death in street clashes in the mountain capital. It said no foreigners had died, and that the dead included two people killed with shotguns.

China has accused the followers of Tibet’s exiled spiritual leader, the Dalai Lama, of engineering the unrest in the run-up to the Beijing Olympics.

The Olympic torch relay will pass through Tibet in a few weeks, an official said.

The Dalai Lama’s aides rejected the allegations as “absolutely baseless,” and insisted that the unrest was “spontaneous.”

The riots emerged from a volatile mix of pre-Olympics protests, diplomatic friction over Tibet and local discontent. Hollywood actor Richard Gere, a Buddhist and an activist for Tibetan causes, had even suggested an Olympic boycott.

Official statements suggested the government reaction in the coming days would be tough, with Tibetan Buddhist monasteries and nunneries being brought under control.

The regional government said those who harboured protesters would be punished. An announcement on Tibet television urged residents to denounce the “malicious intent” of the Dalai Lama.

Unruly groups in Lhasa targeted some government offices, burnt vehicles and shops and threw stones at the police in Friday’s confrontations. Many people were injured. Chinese television showed footage of rioters trashing shops and trying to break down the entrance of a bank, and plumes of smoke floating above the city.

Qiangba Puncog, the top government official in Tibet, told reporters here that the Tibetan authorities had not fired any shots to quell the violence.

In Lhasa, Danish tourist Bente Walle, 58, said: “Today, Lhasa is completely closed and there is Chinese military all over.” Many Tibetans had tied white prayer scarves to their doors in a gesture of protest.

Elsewhere in China, protests involving monks were witnessed in Gansu province on Saturday. The security forces used teargas to disperse one rally, campaign groups said. The main protest was at and around the Labrang monastery, one of the largest Buddhist temples outside the Tibetan Autonomous Region.

But Xinhua quoted an official as saying in a statement repeated across Chinese state media on Saturday: “We are fully capable of maintaining the social stability of Tibet.”

In Washington, U.S. State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said China should act with restraint when dealing with protesters in Tibet and repeated a call for dialogue with its spiritual leader, the Dalai Lama.

The U.S. embassy in Beijing issued a warning against travel to Tibet and majority Tibetan areas of west China. “In addition, Americans are advised to use caution when travelling to predominantly Tibetan areas of neighbouring provinces, including Yunnan, Sichuan, Qinghai, and Xinjiang provinces.”

In New York, nearly 1,500 Tibetans demonstrated outside the Chinese consulate on Saturday protesting against the crackdown in Lhasa.

Police prevented protesters from barging into the consulate complex. Shouting slogans against Chinese authorities and demanding ‘freedom,’ the protesters occupied the road in front of the consulate. — Agencies

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