|
Deadly violence in Tibet
14/03/2008 17:49 - (SA)
Beijing - The Tibetan capital Lhasa erupted in deadly violence on Friday as security forces used gunfire to quell the biggest protests against Chinese rule in two decades, officials and rights groups said.
The protests, which spread outside Tibet into other areas of China, came amid a growing international campaign by Tibetans to challenge Beijing's rule of the Himalayan region ahead of the Olympic Games in August.
Several people lost their lives and many others were injured in Lhasa on Friday, an official at the city's medical emergency centre told AFP, with Radio Free Asia reporting at least two people had been killed by Chinese bullets.
The United States, Britain and other European states expressed concern over the violence, with the White House calling on Beijing to "respect Tibetan culture" and the US ambassador here asking officials to "act with restraint".
Public resentment
Tibet's exiled spiritual leader, the Dalai Lama, said the protests were a result of public resentment of the "brute force" employed by China to maintain control of the region for more than 50 years.
"I therefore appeal to the Chinese leadership to stop using force and address the long-simmering resentment of the Tibetan people through dialogue with the Tibetan people," he said in a statement issued from his base in India.
"I also urge my fellow Tibetans not to resort to violence."
More than 100 Buddhist monks kicked off the protests early Friday, which quickly attracted hundreds of other Tibetans and saw one of the biggest markets in Lhasa as well as cars set ablaze, foreign tourists and rights groups said.
At least 900 people rioted in Lhasa, and more than 1 000 security forces were sent in to quell the unrest, the London-based Free Tibet Campaign said, citing Tibetans in the city.
The official at the medical emergency centre in Lhasa said staff were overwhelmed by the number of victims.
"We are very busy with the injured people now - there are many people injured here. Definitely some people have died, but I don't know how many," a female official at the centre said by phone.
Radio Free Asia, a US-funded broadcaster that has proved to have good contacts inside Tibet, said there had been terrible clashes between Tibetans and Chinese security forces.
"Chinese police fired on rioting Tibetan protesters in Lhasa on Friday, killing at least two people, as Tibetans torched cars and shops and anti-Chinese demonstrators surged through the streets," it said.
Foreign tourists and a local Tibetan contacted by AFP also reported hearing gunfire in Lhasa.
The Free Tibet Campaign said security forces also used tear gas.
The unrest spread outside Lhasa, with monks leading a rally of up to 300 people in Xiahe, Gansu province, the site of one of Tibetan Buddhism's most important monasteries, an AFP reporter witnessed.
Chinese authorities did not immediately comment on the unrest but the official Xinhua news agency confirmed that shops were set on fire in Lhasa and that there had been violence.
"Witnesses said a number of shops were burnt and some others nearby shut down business," Xinhua said.
Xinhua said some people had been sent to hospital with unspecified injuries. Fires broke out in a market and street near the Jokhang temple - regarded as one of the most sacred sites for Tibetan Buddhists - in the old part of Lhasa, a firefighter and tourists in the city told AFP.
- AFP
|
News
