china closes door on tibet - riot police on the march
China is sealing off Tibet and other areas of unrest from outside scrutiny by expelling all foreign media as its midnight ultimatum to protesters to hand themselves in approaches. Thousands of troops and paramilitary police are flooding into Lhasa and in provinces with large Tibetan populations, amid reports that arrests have already begun in the Tibetan capital. Journalists have been removed from Tibet and turned away from other areas where anti-government protests have broken out. The region's governor, Qiangba Puncog, said that protesters who turned themselves in would be "treated with leniency within the framework of the law ... Otherwise, we will deal with them harshly." He offered no more details.
His remarks came as the authorities began a propaganda counter-offensive, issuing graphic descriptions of the anti-Chinese violence which took place in Lhasa on Friday as protests against the government turned into attacks on Han-Chinese and Hui Muslim businesses and individuals. The Tibetan governor said the authorities' response had been "restrained" and insisted riot police had not opened fire. There have been widespread accounts of gunfire, although possibly used to keep people off the streets. He said that 13 "innocent civilians" had died while three rioters had jumped from rooftops while fleeing. But the Tibetan government in exile claims that at least 80 have died in the capital. [source - guardian]
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DIdn't the Dalai Lama himself say China deserved to host it?
Close to 1,000 Tibetans have been detained in two days of sweeps across the capital, Lhasa, by paramilitary police hunting down those who took part in last week’s deadly anti-Chinese riots. Sources in the city said around 600 people had been detained on Saturday and another 300 had been picked up on Sunday. They said it was not clear where those rounded up were being detained because the main Drapchi prison in Lhasa is already believed to be virtually full.
Those detained could be taken to the old Number One prison in the Sangyip district in the northeast of Lhasa that is currently not believed to be in use. They may be held in the nearby Number Four detention centre and the New Lhasa prison in the same district that has recently been used as a re-education-through-labour centre. They could even be taken to the new Chushur prison some distance outside Lhasa where most political prisoners are believed to be jailed after sentencing.
Dalai Lama Leader of Tibetan Buddhists denies orchestrating riots and says he will resign if violence on both sides does not stop. A Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman even said that the Dalai Lama should stand trial but, in one of his most powerful and significant statements, the Nobel laureate offered to resign his temporal position as leader of the Tibetans, saying that independence was out of the question.
China says that 13 people were killed in Lhasa. Tibet’s government-in-exile in Dharamsala, where the Dalai Lama has made his home since 1959, put the death toll at 99.
Some soldiers in the vehicles were carrying automatic rifles with fixed bayonets, others were equipped with shields and riot gear.
In Lhasa, where howling Tibetan mobs turned on ethnic Han Chinese and Hui Muslims last Friday in the worst violence in nearly 20 years, a homemade bomb was thrown at a paramilitary vehicle yesterday. Police fired teargas to disperse onlookers and schools were ordered to close early. It was unclear how many people were hurt. Residents said four police were killed or wounded but officials would not comment.