CHINA locked down the Tibetan capital yesterday after the largest and most violent protests against its rule in the region in nearly two decades.
The main Tibetan exile group said Chinese authorities have killed at least 30 Tibetan demonstrators and injured many more during protests.
The Tibetan government in exile, based in the north Indian town of Dharamsala, offered no details in its s
tatement, saying only: "There have been 30 confirmed deaths and over 100 unconfirmed deaths."
The statement comes after protests by Buddhist monks in Tibet turned violent, with shops and vehicles set on fire and gunshots fired in the region's capital, Lhasa. Earlier reports said at least 10 people were killed.
As news of the violence spread, police broke up sympathy protests in China's western province of Gansu, Australia, India and Nepal.
Streets in Lhasa were mostly empty as a curfew remained in place. Eyewitnesses described baton-wielding police patrolling streets as fires smouldered. Xinhua, China's official news agency, said 10 people – including two hotel employees and two shop owners – were burned to death, but no foreigners were hurt.
The unrest comes two weeks before China's Olympic celebrations kick into gear with the start of the torch relay, which passes through Tibet. Sun Weide, a spokesman for the Beijing Olympics organising committee, said the unrest would not have a negative impact on the Games or the torch relay.
Preparations to carry the Olympic torch to Mount Everest and across Tibet "have been proceeding smoothly," Sun said. "The hosting of the Beijing Games is the 100-year dream for Chinese people."
The US and other governments have urged China to show restraint on the protesters, though International Olympic Committee president Jacques Rogge deferred. "It is not our job," he told reporters while visiting Puerto Rico. "We are not an activist organisation."
China's governor in Tibet vowed to punish the rioters, while law enforcement authorities urged protesters to turn themselves in by Tuesday or face unspecified punishment.
"We will deal harshly with these criminals in accordance with the law," Champa Phuntsok, chairman of the Tibetan government, said in Beijing. "Beating, smashing, looting and burning – we absolutely condemn this sort of behaviour. This plot is doomed to failure."
He blamed the protests on followers of the Dalai Lama, who fled into exile in 1959 after a failed uprising against Chinese rule and is still Tibet's widely revered spiritual leader.
From India, the Dalai Lama appealed to China not to use force, saying he was "deeply concerned" and urged Tibetans "not to resort to violence".
Over the centuries, Tibet was at times part of China's dynastic empires. Communist forces invaded in 1950, to reclaim the Himalayan region. The latest unrest began on Monday, the anniversary of the 1959 uprising, when 300 monks demanded the release of others detained last autumn.
The violence erupted on the fifth day, after police tried to stop monks from protesting in Lhasa. Tibetans vented anger on Chinese, hurling stones and torching shops and cars.
A notice issued by Tibetan authorities offered leniency for demonstrators who surrender before Tuesday. Otherwise, they will be "severely punished".
Tourists were told to stay in their hotels and make plans to leave. "There's no conflict today. The streets look pretty quiet," said a woman who answered the telephone at the Lhasa Hotel.
Tourists reached by phone described soldiers sealing off streets where the rioting occurred. Armoured vehicles and trucks ferried soldiers. "There are military blockades blocking off whole portions of the city and the entire city is basically closed down," said a 23-year-old Western student who arrived in Lhasa yesterday. "All the restaurants are closed, all the hotels are closed."
Plooij Frans, a Dutch tourist who left the capital yesterday and arrived in the Nepali capital of Katmandu, said he saw about 140 trucks of soldiers drive into the city within 24 hours.
"They came down on Tibetan people really hard," said Frans, who said his group could not return to their hotel on Friday and had to stay near the airport. "Every corner, there were tanks. It would have been impossible to hold any protest today."
Government staff have been prevented from leaving their buildings. "We've been here since yesterday. No one has been allowed to leave or come in," said a woman who works for Lhasa's Work Safety Bureau, near the Potala Palace, the former residence of the Dalai Lama.
"Armoured vehicles have been driving past," she said. "Men wearing camouflage uniforms and holding batons are patrolling the streets."
It is difficult to get independent verification of events in Tibet as China maintains rigid control over the area. Foreigners need special travel permits, and journalists are rarely granted access.
The violence poses difficulties for a communist leadership that has looked to the August Olympics as a way to recast China as a friendly, modern power. Too rough a crackdown could put that at risk, while balking could embolden protesters, costing Beijing authority in often restive Tibet.
In the western Chinese town of Xiahe, police fired tear gas to disperse Buddhist monks and others staging a second day of protests yesterday.
Several hundred monks marched out of historic Labrang monastery and into Xiahe in the morning, gathering other Tibetans with them as they went, residents said. The crowd attacked government buildings, smashing windows in the county police headquarters, before police fired tear gas to end the protest.
China's grip on 'roof of the world'Occupying a large, high-altitude and sparsely populated plateau, Tibet is known as the "roof of the world".
• Wedged between the Himalayas to the south and the Kunlun range in the north, Tibet borders Burma, India, Bhutan and Nepal.
• The People's Liberation Army marched into the Himalayan region in 1950.
• The Dalai Lama, Tibet's god-king, fled on horseback after a failed uprising against Chinese rule in 1959 and now lives in exile in northern India. China accuses him of seeking independence for Tibet. The 72-year-old spiritual leader says he only wants greater autonomy for the region.
• Within Tibet, simply having the Dalai Lama's picture can be grounds for imprisonment. Critics say Buddhist monks and nuns loyal to the Dalai Lama have been jailed and tortured.
• Activists say tourism and migration by Han Chinese could swamp Tibet's distinctive culture.
• China's central government has invested billions of dollars in improving Tibet's infrastructure.
Worldwide outcryInternational pressure mounted on Beijing yesterday to show restraint towards demonstrators in Tibet, as protesters in Sydney removed the Chinese flag at China's consulate building and tried to raise a Tibetan one.
Australia, the United States and Europe are all urging the Chinese authorities to deal with the Lhasa situation peacefully.
Australia's foreign affairs minister Stephen Smith called for China to allow "peaceful expression of dissent".
German Chancellor Angela Merkel called for "free and direct dialogue" between China and the Dalai Lama.
Dozens of protesters in India launched a new march to Tibet yesterday, days after more than 100 Tibetan exiles were arrested by authorities during a similar rally.
