China PM blames riots in Tibet on Dalai Lama
Chinese prime minister Wen Jiabao says riots in Tibet caused heavy losses and that supporters of the Dalai Lama were behind the protests.
Mr Wen’s comments were the highest-level Chinese response to the violence in Tibet, rocked by the biggest anti-government protests in nearly two decades.
He told a news conference at the end of China’s annual legislative session that the government had acted with extreme restraint in dealing with the protests.
He claims the situation in Lhasa has returned to normal after the anti-government riots.
The protests by Tibetans that left parts of Lhasa in ruins were the biggest anti-government protests in nearly two decades.
“There is ample fact – and we also have plenty of evidence – proving that this incident was organised, premeditated, masterminded and incited by the Dalai clique,” said Mr Wen.
The Chinese government claims last week’s rampage in Lhasa has killed 16 people and injured dozens.
Protesters burned Chinese flags and tried to push their way into Chinese diplomatic missions in Australia and Europe in the latest demonstrations against Beijing’s crackdown on a pro-independence push for Tibet.
In London, a small group of about 80 pro-Tibet demonstrators hurled placards and sticks at China’s embassy and tried to force their way into the building during a raucous rally. Police said there were no injuries or arrests.
In New York, a protester who tried to drape the Tibetan flag over a billboard high above a Times Square police station was arrested.
In Sydney today, protesters demanding an end to repression in Tibet burned Chinese flags and wept while more than 20 police kept order outside the Chinese consulate in Australia’s largest city.
About 100 Tibetan immigrants and supporters waved Tibetan flags and shouted slogans demanding that Chinese authorities stop killing their countrymen. Demonstrators, many of them weeping, burned Chinese flags and waved flags, photos of exiled Tibetan spiritual leader, the Dalai Lama, and signs demanding freedom for Tibet.
“Stop killing,” the protesters shouted. “Shame! Shame! China, shame!” “We will never give up!”
A female protester, her face red with anger, approached the consulate gate and wound a Tibetan flag around her neck, pulling tight to strangle herself before friends loosened it. Another woman, overcome with emotion, fainted and was carried to a waiting ambulance.
Protests against Chinese rule in Lhasa, Tibet’s largest city, began on March 10 on the anniversary of a failed 1959 uprising against Chinese rule in the region that sent the Dalai Lama and much of the leading Buddhist clergy into exile in northern India.
Tibet was effectively independent for decades before Communist troops entered in 1950.
Wen Jiabao today denounced supporters of the Dalai Lama, dismissing his claims that there was “cultural genocide” taking place in his homeland.
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