Tibetan religious leader, locals chide lawless riot in Lhasa

LHASA, March 16 (Xinhua) -- Religious leader in China's Tibet Autonomous Region and local Tibetans chided Friday's riotous activities that damaged the religious order and peace in Lhasa.

"A handful of monks didn't study the scriptures, didn't follow our religious code, but echoed the Dalai clique in splittist efforts to undermine the stability in Tibet and destroy the order of the Tibetan Buddhism," Dazhag Dainzin Geleg, vice-president of the Tibetan Branch of the Buddhist Association of China, said on Sunday.

"What they did hurt the fundamental interests of the religious circle and the believers. We stand firmly opposed to that," he said.

An outburst of commotion broke the peace of Lhasa on Friday. Sources with the local government said on Saturday that at least 10 people were confirmed dead, mostly civilians from burns. Lhasa police have rescued more than 580 people, including three Japanese tourists, from the violent array of sabotage.

Tubdain, a local resident, said he saw a girl in red-clothing who appeared to be a Han Chinese was chased and clubbed by six people on the Duosenge Road in the downtown area. "The mobs stoned her head and batted her knees with wooden clubs," said the 50-something Tubdain.

"Blood trickled down her face. She stumbled to the ground, crying and begging the rioters to let her go," he said. "They seemed a bunch of insane people, growling, stabbing, smashing and burning. It was so hard to believe what I saw."

Qiangba Puncog, Tibet Autonomous Regional Government chairman, who is in Beijing for the parliamentary meeting, condemned the unrest on Saturday, and said they were "organized and premeditated" by the Dalai clique.

"Their separatist plot will not succeed. It's the common will of the Tibetan people to maintain national unity, ethnic solidarity and social harmony," he added.