Chinese police face fresh riots in Tibetan areas
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Chinese police claim they were 'forced' to smother fresh riots in Tibet and Tibetan areas of southwest China over the last two days. At least one Chinese official was wounded in the Sichuan province, the state Xinhua agency said.
The latest riot to shake Tibetan areas of
"Police were forced to fire warning shots and put down the violence," an official with the prefectural government said.
"An official was attacked and seriously wounded in a riot," the brief report said, adding that he was "seriously wounded."
The report did not explain the cause of the unrest or whether it involved ethnic Tibetans, who have been protesting against
Ganzi and neighbouring
A mob armed with stones and knives killed an armed Chinese policeman in Ganzi late last month. On March 16, Buddhist monks and residents in
The widespread unrest began in
Chinese officials have accused the Dalai Lama of organising the unrest to press for Tibetan independence ahead of the Beijing Olympic Games in August, and vowed to come down hard on rioters and on protesters supporting him.
The Dalai Lama has repeatedly denied the accusations and said he wants true autonomy, but not outright independence, for
COURTS BACK CRACKDOWN
The region's courts have made clear that they will back the crackdown, hand out tough verdicts and reinforce the government's campaign against the Dalai Lama.
"Use trial according to the law of all the criminals to shock criminality and root out the base of the separatists. Use ample evidence to expose to the world the Dalai clique's lies of peace and non-violence."
Baima Chilin ordered swift trials and said the judges "have the confidence of the Party."
On Thursday, an official
The
The United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, Louise Arbour, held "private discussions" with Chinese officials on
"The issue of accessibility is obviously paramount because without that it's very hard to come to any conclusions about what has happened or what should happen next," Arbour's spokesman Rupert Colville told a news briefing in
But Chinese officials and state media have criticised Western news reports of the Tibetan unrest, claiming they have misrepresented violence as peaceful protest, vilified efforts to develop
A major Chinese Internet site has now launched an online petition drive aimed at condemning Western media reports on the unrest.
By Friday evening, Sina.com's online petition condemning Western press reports claimed close to one million signatures, with many signers voicing nationalist outrage.
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