Posted on 03/15/2008 6:16:36 AM PDT by BGHater
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| Fires in Tibet capital, Lhasa after protests, 14 Mar. 2008 |
China's official Xinhua news agency said Saturday that rioters in the Tibetan capital of Lhasa Friday burned schools, hospitals, shops and houses. Xinhua said 10 people were killed.
The news agency said prosecutors and police in Tibet threatened harsh punishment for any of the rioters who did not turn themselves in by midnight Monday.
Residents of Lhasa told VOA Tibetan Service that more than 20 Tibetans were killed Friday. Reports from Lhasa today say there is a heavy military presence in the city.
Tibet's exile government, based in India, says it has received unconfirmed reports that police killed up to 100 Tibetans.
Friday's unrest was the worst in the region since 1989.
The Chinese Communist Party's regional chairman for Tibet, Champa Phuntsok, speaking Saturday in Beijing, denied that police shot at protesters in Lhasa. However, an earlier report by China's state-controlled news media had confirmed the gunfire heard in the city came from police.
Chinese media also report that many people were injured in the disorder, including a large number of police.
Loudspeakers broadcast orders for everyone to stay off the streets, following a curfew imposed late Friday.
A Chinese government official in Tibet blamed supporters of the Dalai Lama, Tibet's exiled spiritual leader, for leading the violence.
The Dalai Lama had issued a non-violence appeal to both protesters and Chinese authorities, and a spokesman says any notion that the exiled leader called for the protests in Lhasa is "absolutely baseless."
Tibetans across the globe have been demonstrating for the past week to mark the 49th anniversary of the Tibetan uprising against Chinese rule.
China has controlled Tibet since 1951. The Dalai Lama and thousands of his followers fled to India from Tibet in 1959 during the failed revolt against Chinese rule.
Let the tyrannical regime with the blood of tens of millions on its hand, that is without sin, cast the first stone.
That’s rich.
Those perpetually contrarian Tibetans simply won’t come to terms with the fact that they can’t have their country back from the world-class thieves, rapists, and murderers who stole it from them.
For this kind of unrest in particular countries, only a few western countries’ sources that I can trust even for a little. BBC and New York Times are a few that I really trust their report. CNN? VOA? Ah, ah, not really.
The propaganda machine is freshly oiled and running smoothly.
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