Chinese TV runs Tibet riot footage

Published March 21, 2008

BEIJING, March 20: China on Thursday broadcast a special report on violence in Tibet showing monks and other rioters marauding through the region’s main town of Lhasa as it reiterated that the Dalai Lama was behind the unrest.

The 15-minute special by state-run CCTV was broadcast simultaneously on its Chinese, English, French and Spanish channels.

The rioters appeared on screen attacking businesses, assaulting Lhasa residents and battling security forces. According to the report, 156 rioters had turned themselves in.

The TV report said that Buddhist monks had touched off the riots last Friday near a major temple in the city by stoning the police.

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 the police with teargas.

“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 TV report said.

It said that the exiled Dalai Lama had masterminded the violence.

Earlier on Thursday, in a phone call with her Chinese counterpart Yang Jiechi, US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice called for China to show restraint towards protesters and resume dialogue with the Dalai Lama.

White House spokeswoman Dana Perino said there was no change in US President George W. Bush’s plans to attend the ceremony and said the spotlight on Beijing could be a good thing.

“... That way the Chinese can hear how people feel and then maybe have an opportunity to either explain their position or maybe even change the things that they are doing,” Perino said.

The Olympic torch relay across 19 countries that starts next week, and which will also pass through Tibet, is also likely to be dogged by protests.

The Chinese government has opposed international calls for dialogue over the unrest and expressed serious concern that British Prime Minister Gordon Brown plans to meet the Dalai Lama during his visit to Britain in May.

“If those acts can be tolerated, is there any law in the world? Is there any justice in the world?”, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Qin Gang told a news conference when asked to respond to a call for dialogue from Pope Benedict.

The Dalai Lama, speaking in his exile home in the Indian town of Dharamsala, said he was ready to travel to Beijing to meet Chinese leaders.

Beijing has long said it would meet him only if he forsook claims to Tibet’s independence. The 72-year-old monk says he just wants greater autonomy for his homeland.

—Agencies

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