China searches for rioters as world pressure increases
China today issued a “most wanted” list of 21 rioters pictured in Lhasa last week. Meanwhile thousands of troops continued to push into Tibetan areas of western China to contain unrest.
And the Speaker of the US House of Representatives Nancy Pelosi lent her support to the Tibetan cause while visiting the Dalai Lama, calling China’s crackdown “a challenge to the conscience of the world.”
Her criticism added to a growing chorus of international concern over Beijing’s harsh response to the anti-government protests in Tibet, as China sought to blame supporters of the Tibetan spiritual leader for the unrest that has posed the biggest challenge to Beijing’s rule in two decades.
Ms Pelosi, who was leading a congressional delegation on a previously scheduled trip to India, was warmly greeted by the Dalai Lama, who draped a yellow scarf over her shoulders.
“If freedom-loving people throughout the world do not speak out against China’s oppression in China and Tibet, we have lost all moral authority to speak on behalf of human rights anywhere in the world,” she said in Dharmsala, the seat of the Dalai Lama’s government-in-exile.
She called for an international investigation into the violence in Tibet and dismissed China’s claim that the Dalai Lama was behind the fighting as making “no sense.”
China’s response to the riots has drawn worldwide attention to its human rights record, threatening to overshadow Beijing’s attempts to project an image of unity and prosperity in the lead-up to the August Olympics.
Chinese authorities intensified the manhunt for the suspects from the Lhasa rioting, posting their photos – taken from video cameras and security footage - on major internet portals.
Shown under the heading of “Lhasa Public Security Bureau’s Wanted List of Criminal Suspects,” the 21 people are accused of endangering national security, and cited for beating, smashing, looting and arson.
One suspect is shown wielding a long sword and another is a man who had been shown on news programs slashing another with a foot-long blade.
The official Xinhua News Agency said two of the 21 suspects had already been arrested and a third turned himself in. Authorities called on the public for assistance, offering rewards for information.
So far, police have arrested 24 people and another 170 turned themselves in, Xinhua said.
The protests in Lhasa sparked sympathy demonstrations in neighbouring provinces, prompting Beijing to deploy thousands of troops across a wide swath of western China where more than half of China’s 5.4 million Tibetans live.
The massive mobilisation was helping authorities reassert control after demonstrations flared in Sichuan, Qinghai and Gansu provinces, inspired by monks in the Tibetan capital last week.
Lhasa residents said police were still patrolling the streets but that people were free to go where they wanted as long as they had identity cards.
Residents in Ganzi county in Sichuan province said Friday they saw troops, trucks and helicopters on patrol in an area that saw hundreds of protesters in the streets earlier this week.
In the largely Tibetan town of Zhongdian, in the far north of Yunnan province, some 30 armed police with batons marched in the main square. Overnight, another two dozen trucks of riot police had arrived, adding to a presence of about 400 troops in an area bordering Tibet.
Patrols and armed encampments had also been set up in other nearby towns, including the tourist attraction of Tiger Leaping Gorge.
In Xiahe, a city in Gansu province where there were two days of protests last week, the 50-room Xilin Hotel was “completely occupied by police with guns and batons,” said a hotel worker.
A resident in Qinghai province, meanwhile, said about 300 troops were in the town of Zeku a day after monks protested outside the county government office.
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