Beijing - China on Saturday said a mosque was burnt down and
that at least seven people died in rioting on Friday in Lhasa between
paramilitary police and Tibetans protesting against Chinese rule, but
it denied that the police had opened fire.
'The outbreak of violence died down in Lhasa Friday night, after a
tumultuous day that saw windows smashed, shops robbed, a mosque burnt
down and reportedly many casualties,' the government's official
Xinhua news agency said.
The agency quoted officials as saying said at least 10 people died
and that they were 'all innocent civilians', including two hotel
employees and two shop owners.
Armed police had rescued some 580 people, including three Japanese
tourists, from banks, supermarkets, schools and hospitals that were
set alight, it said.
The police recorded 160 fires in the city on Friday, including 40
major fires, it said.
The violence erupted in the centre of Lhasa, the capital of
China's Tibet Autonomous Region, as the government deployed the
police to control pro-independence protests initiated by Tibetan
Buddhist monks.
US-based Radio Free Asia on Saturday quoted Tibetans in Lhasa as
saying up to 80 people could have died in the rioting, with witnesses
telling the broadcaster that tanks or armoured personnel carriers
were deployed in the city.
'We saw two dead at Ramoche temple, two in the garden, two at the
Ganden printing house, and those Tibetans who went to take food to
prisoners in Drapchi prison saw 26 Tibetans shot after they were
brought in on a black vehicle,' the broadcaster quoted one Tibetan
witness as saying.
'There could be about 80 dead, or more, but there is too much
commotion here to give an exact number,' the witness said.
Youths attacked police and businesses run by non-Tibetans during
the rioting, the broadcaster said.
'Several buildings owned by Chinese immigrants and Chinese Muslim
immigrants were set on fire,' the same witness said.
'All those shops owned by Chinese were ransacked and burned.
Tibetan shop owners were told to mark their shops with scarves,' he
said.
Many Muslims from the Hui ethnic group have migrated to Tibet from
neighbouring provinces in recent decades, as well as hundreds of
thousands of Han Chinese, drawing resentment from many Tibetans.
Radio Free Asia on Friday reported that police had 'fired into the
crowds' of rioters, but the government on Saturday denied the charge.
'We fired no gunshots,' Xinhua quoted Qiangba Puncog, chairman of
the regional government, as saying in Beijing on Saturday.
Qiangba Puncog said the rioting was premeditated 'sabotage'
organized by supporters of the exiled Dalai Lama, the highest leader
of Tibetan Buddhism.
The official said the government would 'severely deal with those
who engage themselves in activities of splitting the nation.'
Friday's rioting followed protests by Tibetan monks that began
Monday, the 49th anniversary of an uprising against Chinese rule that
was crushed by troops.
The protests have since spread to several more monasteries in
other Tibetan areas of China.
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