China rounds up potential dissenters in an attempt to crush the rioting in Tibet

[DeadlyNightshade]

China rounds up potential dissenters in an attempt to crush the rioting in Tibet
By SIMON PARRY
Last updated at 23:37pm on 22nd March 2008

Hundreds of young Tibetan men have been rounded up and jailed to stop further protests against Chinese rule in the run-up to the Olympic Games, it was claimed yesterday.

Witnesses in the capital, Lhasa, said that the crackdown by armed paramilitaries had left the streets deserted.

Squads of police and troops are going from door to door and dragging away any suspected troublemakers – even if they did not take part in the recent riots.

Those who resist arrest are being shot, Tibetan residents in Lhasa have told The Mail on Sunday by phone.

This month's riots, and the Chinese government's aggressive response to them, have been the worst violence in Tibet since the failed uprising of 1959 which drove the Dalai Lama into exile.

China's tough line defies international appeals for the country to defuse the crisis by holding talks with the Buddhist spiritual leader, who has denounced violence on the part of rioters and insisted he does not want independence for Tibet.

Beijing yesterday ruled out talks with the Dalai Lama and insisted that it must "resolutely crush" the Tibetan independence movement.

In an editorial carried in the Communist Party newspaper, the People's Daily, China said the unrest was engineered by the "Dalai Lama clique" with the "vicious intent" of undermining this summer's Olympics and splitting Tibet from China.

The action in Lhasa – amounting to a declaration of martial law – appears to have intensified in recent days after overseas journalists and almost all other foreigners were expelled.

The number of arrests, witnesses say, vastly exceeds China's claim of 105.

Tibet's government in exile added that about 100 people in Lhasa and other areas with Tibetan populations had died in the riots.

Thousands of troops have poured into Lhasa over the past week, some of them believed to be elite army units who will operate undercover.

Military vehicles have also flooded into the western provinces of China which have large Tibetan populations, such as Gansu and Sichuan.

One witness in Lhasa said: "The army is going from door to door arresting anyone they think might join in if more riots break out. People who have resisted arrest have been shot.

"Hundreds, maybe even thousands, of people in Lhasa have been arrested. Soldiers and police are everywhere and they seem to be picking people up randomly from the street, particularly young Tibetans."

The Chinese government, meanwhile, appears to be using the internet to defend its position.

International newspaper and broadcast websites, including those operated by UK broadsheets and the BBC, have been flooded with pro-China comments from apparently bogus names and locations.

A reader signing himself as "Ian from Aberdeen" wrote on the BBC news website: "A country must control the crime and prevent innocent from being damaged by the criminals...BBC's report is absolutely rubbish."

Chinese bloggers have also posted messages criticising "ungrateful" Tibetans who they say owe their newfound prosperity to China.


source: Daily Mail, UK

[obezyanka88]

that is really sad. there has been so much political instability in that area for quite some time now..... perhaps one day they will get the freedom the desire?