Monks break up journalist Tibet ‘tour’
p2pnet news | Freedom:- A tour of the Tibetan capital Lhasa, carefully organised by China for foreign journalists, was disrupted by a group of 30 monks in red robes.
“The supervised trip was designed to show that the region had returned to normal after last week’s massive demonstrations were brutally suppressed by troops who are accused of killing more than 100 people,” says the Press Association.
“Tibet is not free! Tibet is not free!” yelled one young monk, who then started to cry, says the story.
Close to 1,000 people have surrendered to police in the wake of the anti-government riots and protests, say the official China state media reports.
The New China News Agency said 280 people turned themselves in to police in Lhasa, “where largely peaceful, monk-led protests March 10 gave way to violent rioting, looting and arson by angry Tibetans on March 14,” says the Washington Post, going on:
“Another 289 people surrendered in the Gannan Tibetan Autonomous area of southwest Gansu province, where protests spread, the China News Service and the Gansu Daily said. And 381 people in Aba county in northern Sichuan turned themselves in, the New China News Agency reported.
“Police also published a most-wanted list of 53 people sought in connection with the riots.”
China puts the number of people who died in the riots as 22, but Tibetan rights groups say the real number is closer to 140.
In the tour, “Government handlers shouted for the journalists to leave and tried to pull them away during the protest,” says PA.
“They want us to crush the Dalai Lama and that is not right,” one monk said during the 15-minute outburst, says the story, adding, ‘This had nothing to do with the Dalai Lama,’ said another.”
An unrelated video shot by Australian tourists shows three Chinese tanks (right) powering into Lhasa during the protests.
Also See:
Press Association – Monks disrupt Tibet charm offensive, March 27, 2008
Washington Post – Nearly 1,000 give selves up after riots, China says, March 27, 2008
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