China warns Tibetans, denies using deadly force

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BEIJING, Mar 17 (AFP): China Monday warned Tibetans involved in anti-Chinese protests to quickly surrender, and insisted it had not used deadly force in quelling the unrest, blaming rioters for murdering 13 people.
"They either burned or hacked to death 13 innocent civilians," Tibet government chairman Qiangba Puncog said in Beijing as he gave the first detailed official account of the protests in the region's capital, Lhasa.
Amid international calls for China to show restraint, and reported threats from some athletes that they may boycott the Beijing Olympics over the unrest, Qiangba sought to portray the Chinese response as reserved.
"Throughout the process, (security forces) did not carry or use any lethal weapons," he said.
"I can tell you as a responsible official that guns were absolutely not fired. The PLA (People's Liberation Army) was not involved at all in dealing with the incident."
His comments contradicted many eyewitness accounts from local Chinese residents and foreign tourists in Lhasa that they saw and heard repeated gunfire there Friday, the biggest day of protests, and over the weekend.
Tibet's parliament-in-exile said in a statement Monday that hundreds of Tibetans have died in unrest in Lhasa and elsewhere in the Chinese-ruled Himalayan region.
"The massive demonstrations that started from March 10 in the capital city of Lhasa and other regions of Tibet, resulting (in the) death of hundreds of Tibetans, and subsequent use of force... needs to be brought to the attention of the United Nations and the international community," the statement said.
The protests have spread to other areas of China that have significant ethnic Tibetan populations and that many Tibetans still regard as part of their ancestral homeland.
At least eight people were killed, including a 15-year-old student, when police shot at hundreds of rioting Tibetans in the town of Ngawa, Sichuan province, Sunday, activist groups with contacts there said.
Monks have also led protests involving thousands of people at and around the Labrang monastery, one of Tibetan Buddhism's most important sites, in neighbouring Gansu province.
The protests began in Lhasa early last week to coincide with the anniversary of a failed 1959 uprising against Chinese rule that began when troops were sent in to "liberate" the vast Himalayan region nine years earlier.
The Dalai Lama, the Tibetan spiritual leader who fled his homeland after the 1959 uprising, spoke out Sunday from his base of exile in India against what he termed China's "rule of terror" in Tibet.
"They simply rely on using force in order to simulate peace, a peace brought by force using a rule of terror," the 1989 Nobel Peace Prize winner said.
China has virtually sealed Lhasa off from foreign journalists and kicked out tourists, making it virtually impossible to determine exactly what happened and report accurately on current events.