China: 400+ arrested in Tibet

2008-03-31 17:37

Beijing - Chinese police have so far nabbed 414 people suspected of involvement in deadly unrest in and near the Tibetan capital Lhasa in mid-March, state media reported on Monday.

The Tibet Daily said on its website that another 289 people had turned themselves in following the riots, which broke out in Lhasa on March 14 and quickly descended into deadly violence.

"Lhasa police has made important progress in its efforts to deal with the serious criminal case of March 14, which involved smashing, burning and looting," the city's deputy police chief Jiang Zaiping was quoted as saying.

The paper said six of the 289 who had surrendered to police were considered to be the ringleaders of some of the incidents that took place in Lhasa.

Chinese authorities have decided to show leniency to 45 people who turned themselves in, agreed to cooperate and had shown sufficient remorse, according to the newspaper.

China set a deadline of two weeks ago for people involved in the protests to hand themselves over, but since the deadline expired, the number of people detained has steadily mounted, according to reports in the state-run media.

Three weeks of protests in Tibet and parts of western China with Tibetan populations against Chinese rule of the Himalayan region have left 18 civilians and two police officers dead, according to China's count.

Exiled Tibetan leaders have put the death toll from the Chinese crackdown at 135-140 people, with another 1 000 injured and many detained, prompting international concern.

So far China has only allowed a group of about two dozen journalists and another delegation of foreign diplomats to go to Tibet, under tight supervision.

- AFP