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China sends more troops to Tibet

Beijing: Stepping up its action on the spiralling protests by Tibetans, China has arrested over two dozen people and said that 170 others had “surrendered” as it rushed more troops to Tibet and nearby provinces where agitators attacked shops and government buildings.

For the first time since the riots erupted in Lhasa on Friday claiming 13 lives, China said Tibetan inhabited areas of Sichuan and Gansu provinces too were hit by the unrest. Shops and government offices were attacked in the Aba county on Sunday and a similar scene was replicated in the counties of Xiahe, Magu, Lugu and Jone and Hezuo city in the Gannan Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture in southern Gansu.

The riots were “closely linked” with Lhasa, Zhang Yusheng, a spokesman with the Gansu provincial government was quoted as saying by the official Xinhua news agency on Wednesday night.

China has ordered its “largest mobilisation” since the unrest began, the BBC reported adding 400 troop carriers and other vehicles were seen on the main road.

Two dozen suspects had been arrested in Lhasa for “endangering national security,” looting, arson and “other grave crimes,” the state-run Tibet Daily said on Thursday.

The Tibetan regional government said 170 people had “surrendered” and most of them had admitted to committing minor offences, Xinhua said. Authorities had asked rioters to surrender by midnight of Monday promising leniency and warning of harsh action against those who failed to do so.

Pamphlets with “Tibetan independence contents” were in circulation in Gannan area on March 10, the day when monks led protests in Lhasa to mark the 49th anniversary of a failed uprising against Chinese rule in Tibet, and the Tibetans in exile in India launched a “march to Tibet” to protest the holding of the Olympics in Beijing, state media said. The protesters stormed government offices, police stations, hospitals, shops and markets, local government officials said.

Lhasa, Gannan and Aba were struggling to recover, officials said.

Chinese government updated the toll in the violence saying 325 people were injured in the riots in Lhasa which also caused an economic loss of $28 million.

China said 13 persons were killed in the riots but the Tibetan government in exile at Dharamshala maintains that 99 people have so far died in clashes with security forces, including 80 in Lhasa.

Authorities have banned the entry of foreigners to Lhasa — PTI

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