Chinese Premier Wen blames Dalai Lama for Tibet unrest
Posted: 18 March 2008 1105 hrs

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BEIJING: China has evidence that groups aligned with the Dalai Lama were responsible for the deadly unrest in Tibet, Premier Wen Jiabao said Tuesday in an annual press conference following the end of parliament.

He called the Dalai's Lama's claims of "cultural genocide" in Tibet "complete lies", and said he has full confidence that China can maintain stability there.

The Tibetan capital Lhasa was tense but quiet Tuesday after a deadline for protesters to turn themselves in to Chinese authorities passed, a witness and activist groups said.

"It is a very, very tense and terrifying situation," said Kate Saunders, from the International Campaign for Tibet.

"But it has become much more difficult to get information out," she told AFP.

Tibetinfonet, an online information service run by a group of Tibetans and non-Tibetans with contacts in Lhasa, said "an uneasy silence" appeared to have descended in the capital.

"Shops remain closed and people are said to be surviving on what little provisions they might have at home," it said in a statement.

One receptionist at a hotel in the city, where violent riots broke out on Friday in a series of anti-Chinese demonstrations, said the streets appeared calm.

"I have been working... looking out of the window, it is quiet and people are walking on streets, going about their lives," she told AFP.

A week of protests against China's 57-year rule of Tibet erupted into violent rioting in Lhasa last Friday, with Tibetans destroying Chinese businesses and houses.

The Chinese government said Tibetan rioters murdered 13 civilians in the riots and denied using any deadly force to quell the uprising.

However exiled Tibetan leaders said on Monday that about 100 people, and possibly hundreds, were killed in the crackdown on demonstrators.

Chinese authorities set a deadline of midnight on Monday for those involved in the Lhasa unrest to surrender or face serious consequences.

People harbouring protesters were also told they had until the deadline to turn the demonstrators in to authorities.

Activist groups had already reported that security forces conducted house-to-house searches earlier in the week looking for protesters, and that many had been detained. - AFP/CNA/ac