Print

Mail

wiki links

China pans Dalai Lama, detains alleged arsonists

China stepped up attacks against the Dalai Lama yesterday as authorities apprehended suspects in four arson and murder cases stemming from anti-government riots that engulfed the Tibetan capital last month.

Jiang Zaiping (江再平), vice chief of the Public Security Bureau in the Tibetan capital of Lhasa, said investigators arrested the suspects thought to be responsible for arson attacks on three shops -- including a clothing outlet where five young women were burned to death -- and one in nearby Dagze County, the Tibet Daily newspaper reported yesterday.

A total of 414 suspects have been arrested in connection with the anti-government riots, Jiang was quoted as saying.

Another 298 have turned themselves in, he said.

The Tibetan regional government also announced that the families of two of the women killed were given compensation of 200,000 yuan (US$28,170) each, Xinhua news agency said.

A commentary by Xinhua said yesterday that if the Tibetan leader "really wishes to be a simple Buddhist monk, it's high time for him to stop playing politics and cheating people, Westerners in particular, with his hypocritical `autonomy' claims."

"The self-proclaimed spiritual leader has obviously forgotten his identity, abused his religion and played too much politics," the commentary said.

Hundreds of Tibetan exiles in New Delhi yesterday burned Chinese flags and enacted street plays of Beijing's recent crackdown on protesters in Tibet.

In the street plays, some Tibetans beat up their colleagues -- draped in the yellow, red, white and blue Tibetan colors -- and then dragged them off.

Other protesters broke crockery allegedly made in China as they shouted "Free Tibet!" and denounced Chinese President Hu Jintao (胡錦濤) at a site designated for protests in the heart of the Indian capital.

Australia's foreign minister said yesterday diplomats who visited Tibet were told that monks who interrupted a visit by journalists with an anti-China outburst would not be punished.

"The delegation received an assurance that monks who protested effectively in the presence of international journalists a few days prior to the diplomat's arrival would not be punished," Australian Foreign Minister Stephen Smith told reporters in Perth.

In Kathmandu, Nepali police beat pro-Tibet protesters with sticks yesterday and detained more than 100 people for demonstrating against China, police and witnesses said.
This story has been viewed 1765 times.