TV screens Tibet riot special
20/03/2008 21:13  - (SA)  

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Beijing - China on Thursday broadcast a special report on the Tibet violence showing monks and other rioters marauding through Lhasa as it continued to push its claim that the Dalai Lama was behind the unrest.

The unrest has shone a harsh spotlight on China's controversial rule of the Himalayan region and the country has gone into damage-control mode amid whispers of possible Olympic boycotts and mounting calls for talks on Tibet's future.

The 15-minute special by state-controlled CCTV was broadcast simultaneously on its Chinese, English, French and Spanish channels in a clear indication that the special was intended for foreign consumption.

Comprising mostly footage previously broadcast, it showed rioters attacking businesses, assaulting Lhasa residents, and battling security forces.

It also said 156 rioters had turned themselves in.

The special blamed Buddhist monks for touching off the riots last Friday near a major temple in the city by stoning police.

Police response lauded

Tibetan activist groups, however, have said the violence was sparked when monks holding peaceful protests earlier in the week on the anniversary of a failed 1959 uprising against China were put down by police with tear gas.

The special made no mention of those earlier events, instead focusing on the suffering of Chinese residents and businesses and extolling the police response.

"In handling the incidents, China's Public Security Bureau and armed police have exerted maximum restraint. They used no deadly weapons, even when their own lives were at risk," the narrator said.

In some scenes, violence filmed from a distance appeared to feature remarkably clear sound quality despite being taken with small handheld cameras.

A week of protests against China's 57-year rule of Tibet erupted into full-scale rioting in Lhasa last Friday.

Demonstrations and attacks on government buildings have since spilled over into nearby Chinese provinces with sizeable ethnic Tibetan populations, according to Tibetan activists.

The report repeated China's line that the exiled Dalai Lama masterminded the violence, saying "ample evidence" had been found.

China has so far failed to release any such evidence.

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