100 killed in Tibet uprising?

CNN:

Violent protests in the Tibetan capital Lhasa against Chinese rule have left at least 100 people dead, according to unconfirmed reports from exiles in India, while official media put the death toll at 10.

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Quoting the Tibetan government, China's state-run Xinhua news agency said 10 were killed in Lhasa Friday after police blocked a march by monks, sparking the violence.

"The victims are all innocent civilians, and they have been burnt to death," an official with the regional government told Xinhua.

Tibetan exiles in India meanhwile cited unconfirmed reports that at least 100 people were killed and many more injured.

Video broadcast on China's CCTV Saturday showed flames and black smoke rising the market, where hundreds of rioters used hands, feet and sledge hammers to break down doors and shatter windows. Watch CCTV's images of the violence »

One of the targets of their violence was a Bank of China branch. Protesters, including some monks dressed in red robes, could be seen overturning cars and throwing rocks to chase away other people. There was no sign of Chinese police in the video.

The protests in Tibet began Monday when hundreds of monks rallied on the 49th anniversary of a failed uprising against Beijing that forced the Dalai Lama into exile.

Police used gunfire and tear gas to quell the Lhasa protest, according to witnesses, human rights groups and Xinhua.

Demonstrators set fire to vehicles and shops. One source said late Friday that up to a third of the city may be on fire and that power lines had been cut.

A main market in Lhasa, Tromsikhang Market, was set on fire, said Kate Saunders, a spokeswoman for the International Campaign for Tibet. The market has many Chinese traders, and she said Tibetans have been concerned about the influx of Chinese into the area.

Some ethnic Tibetan shopkeepers hung scarves outside their stores in an effort to spare them from the protesters' wrath, a witness reported.

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It is not clear from the story whether the people were killed by the rioters or the police. The uprising does appear to be tribal in nature with ethnic Chinese the focus of the wrath. The people of Tibet are dealing with a Chinese government that can overwhelm them with force and has shown little inhibition in doing so when it feels threatened. If there is any inhibition at this time it is because of the investment the government has made in the Olympic Games this year. For that reason it is likely that the government will attempt to isolate the uprising initially anyway.

The Washington Post reports:

Chinese armed police flooded into the streets of the Tibetan capital Saturday to smother the riots that have destroyed scores of Chinese-owned businesses in Lhasa and killed 10 people by the government's count. Officials demanded that the rioters surrender by midnight Monday, while shopkeepers cowered in their stores and tourists fled the city.

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"They have closed Lhasa down," said David McGhie, 49, a British tourist who arrived in the city by train at the height of the rioting Friday afternoon and planned to leave as soon as possible. "Clearly, we're not going to see Lhasa."

Patrick Conaghan, a tourist from St. Louis, said he had just stepped off a bus Friday afternoon when "all at once, black smoke. Police were blocking off streets and people running. It was just chaotic."

Conaghan said the protesters did not hassle him. "They were shaking hands with us and telling us to get the message out," he said in an interview as he got off a flight from Lhasa at the Beijing airport Saturday. "You know if I was Chinese, I would have felt like I was in a race riot in America. I would have been in . . . trouble."

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Conaghan must be a liberal. How long has it been since there was a race riot in America? Usually those events are more an opportunity for looting than ethnic attacks. China has a dilemma, but I suspect it will use what ever force is necessary to restore Chinese rule over Tibet.