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BEIJING: China warned Tibetans involved in anti-Chinese protests on
Monday to quickly surrender, but insisted it had not used deadly
force in quelling the unrest and blamed rioters for murdering 13
people.
“They either burned or hacked to death 13
innocent civilians,” Tibet government Chairman Qiangba Puncog said
in Beijing as he gave the first detailed official account of the
protests in the region’s capital, Lhasa.
Amid international calls for China to show
restraint, and reported threats from some athletes that they may
boycott the Beijing Olympics over the unrest, Qiangba sought to
portray the Chinese response as reserved.
“Throughout the process [security forces] did
not carry or use any lethal weapons,” he said.
“I can tell you as a responsible official that
guns were absolutely not fired. The PLA [People’s Liberation Army]
was not involved at all in dealing with the incident.”
His comments contradicted many eyewitness
accounts from local Chinese residents and foreign tourists in Lhasa
that they saw and heard repeated gunfire in the city on Friday, the
biggest day of protests, and the weekend.
Tibet’s government-in-exile said that 80
Tibetans were confirmed killed and possibly more than 100.
Witnesses, residents and Hong Kong television reported a massive
security force in Lhasa.
The protests began early last week to coincide
with the anniversary of a failed 1959 uprising against Chinese rule
that began when troops were sent in to “liberate” the vast
Himalayan region nine years earlier.
Tibetan spiritual leader the Dalai Lama, who
fled his homeland after the 1959 uprising, spoke out on Sunday from
his base of exile in India against what he termed China’s “rule
of terror” in Tibet.
-- AFP
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