 "Photo: AP")
BEIJING - China vowed Monday to defend its sovereignty in Tibet as Chinese troops set up checkpoints and mobilized to quell an uprising. A deadline for protesters in the Tibetan capital to turn themselves in passed without any apparent surrenders or arrests.
In the central government's first comment on the anti-China protests in Tibet, Foreign Ministry spokesman Liu Jianchao blamed the violence in Lhasa on supporters of the Dalai Lama, the revered spiritual leader who fled in 1959 after a failed uprising against Chinese rule.
"The Chinese government will unwaveringly protect its national sovereignty and territorial integrity," ministry spokesman Liu Jianchao said at a hastily-called news conference. "The violent acts have demonstrated the true nature of the Dalai clique."
Some residents reported Monday that Lhasa had quieted down and many people were returning to work. Chinese military police reportedly set up many checkpoints to control movement.
"All across the city today there are checkpoints where you can only enter if you have a permit," said Marion Berjeret, an intern for a French fashion design company who has lived in Lhasa for four months.
Police were doing "door-to-door searches and just going in and ripping apart and looking for insurgents" as of Sunday, said Susan Wetmore, a Canadian who arrived by plane Monday in Chengdu, a neighboring Sichuan province.
In Beijing, Liu accused the Dalai Lama's supporters of being behind sometimes violent demonstrations at Chinese embassies and consulates in the U.S., Europe and Asia.
German police detained 25 Tibetans on Monday after demonstrators tried to force their way into the Chinese consulate in Munich and spray-painted "Save Tibet" and "Stop Killing" on the building. Tibetan protesters also clashed with police in Nepal and India.
The Tibetan protests began March 10 on the anniversary of the failed 1959 uprising. Tibet had been effectively independent for decades before Chinese communist troops entered in 1950.
Be the first to comment on this article!