Mass anti-China violence flares in Tibet
Shops and cars were set on fire during street protests against Chinese rule in the Tibetan capital of Lhasa today.
Buddhist monks led the demonstrations, the largest in 19 years in the ancient mountain kingdom.
Dissident Tibetans are seeking the return of their exiled spiritual leader, the Dalai Lama and the end of 57 years of Chinese domination.
Several shops were burning in Lhasa and nearby businesses were closed, China’s state-run Xinhua News Agency reported.
Monks set fire to a shop after a protest near a small temple in Lhasa was stopped by police, according to a Tibetan woman who spoke to relatives in the city.
More than 100 people joined in demonstrations that began earlier in the day, said the woman.
“The monks are still protesting. Police and army cars were burned. There are people crying,” she said. “Hundreds of people, including monks and civilians are in the protest.”
Another Lhasa resident said military police had closed all roads leading to the city centre.
“The situation is quite serious. There’s a curfew in the city and I can see military police block all the roads to the centre of the city. Nearly all the stores and shops are closed,” said the man, who also asked not to be named.
The Dalai Lama said from his base in India that China must stop using force during protests in Tibet.
He said in a statement that he was “deeply concerned over the situation that has been developing in Tibet following peaceful protests”.
He called on the Chinese leadership to “stop using force and address the long-simmering resentment of the Tibetan people through dialogue with the Tibetan people. I also urge my fellow Tibetans not to resort to violence.”
The violence was the latest in a series of protests inside and outside Tibet that have put an embarrassing spotlight on China’s policies in Tibet in the lead-up to this summer’s Olympic Games in Beijing.
Tensions in the Tibetan capital have increased in recent days as the city’s three biggest monasteries were sealed off by thousands of soldiers and armed police in a government crackdown.
Monks at the major Sera Monastery launched a hunger strike yesterday to demand that armed police withdraw from the monastery grounds and detained monks be released.
At the Drepung Monastery, two Buddhist monks are in critical condition after attempting to commit suicide by slashing their wrists.
Tourists have been warned away from all the monasteries.
It is difficult to get independent verification of events in Tibet since China maintains rigid control over the area. Foreigners need special travel permits, and journalists are rarely granted access except under highly controlled circumstances.
Beijing maintains that Tibet is historically a part of China. But many Tibetans argue the Himalayan region was virtually independent for centuries and accuse China of trying to crush Tibetan culture by swamping it with Han people, the majority Chinese ethnic group.
The protests by the Buddhist monks began Monday, the anniversary of a failed 1959 Tibetan uprising against Chinese rule.
Chinese Communist troops occupied Tibet in 1951 and Beijing continues to rule the region with a heavy hand, enforcing strict controls on religious institutions and routinely vilifying the Dalai Lama, who fled to India after the aborted uprising.
