Hundreds surrender over Tibet riots, China claims

More than 600 people have surrendered in China admitting their part in the Tibet anti-government riots, police said today.

They also published a list of 53 people wanted in connection with the riots in which authorities claim 22 people have died in Lhasa. Tibetan rights groups say nearly 140 Tibetans were killed, including 19 in Gansu province.

The official Xinhua news agency said more than 280 people had turned themselves in for involvement in the Lhasa riots.

Another 381 surrendered in Aba county in Sichuan, the agency said.

Authorities had pledged harsh punishment for those participating in the violence. The Tibet Daily quoted the national police chief as saying monks would be subjected to “patriotic education” classes and he accused the protesters of violating Buddhist tenants.

In such classes, monks are forced to denounce their spiritual leader, the Dalai Lama, who remains widely revered despite Beijing’s relentless vilification, and declare their loyalty to the communist government.

In Beijing, government-backed Tibet scholars reiterated claims that the violence was orchestrated by the Dalai Lama’s followers, part of a spreading campaign to discredit independent reports on the protests that began peacefully among Buddhist monks on March 10, the anniversary of a failed 1959 uprising against Chinese rule.

The United States, Britain and Germany have condemned China for its response to the protests, but stopped short of threatening to boycott the Olympics or the opening ceremony.

French President Nicolas Sarkozy has suggested he may avoid the ceremony. The president of the EU Parliament, Hans-Gert Poettering, also said earlier that politicians should consider staying away from the ceremony if the violence continues.

Belgian Vice Premier Didier Reynders, meanwhile, said officials in his government had not excluded the possibility of staying away from the games. The sports minister of the northern Dutch-speaking region of Flanders has already said he will not attend the opening ceremony, arguing that it is used to promote Chinese propaganda.

The Chinese Foreign Ministry also attacked a British newspaper article comparing the Beijing Olympics to the 1936 Games in Nazi Germany as an “insult to the Chinese people.”

The article by ex-British Cabinet minister Michael Portillo published in The Sunday Times revealed the “despicable psychology of some people”, it said in a statement.

Meanwhile the first group of foreign journalists to visit Tibet since the riots arrived in Lhasa today.

It was unclear how much freedom the small group of foreign reporters would have during the two-day trip.

The bus carrying the journalists drove through three police checkpoints on the way into Lhasa from the airport. Police officers were also stationed at almost every cross street on the road.

At several places that appeared to be government offices, police in camouflage uniforms were stationed with machine guns strapped across their chests.

The trip and reports of surrenders appeared calculated to bolster government claims that authorities are in control of the situation and that the protests that began peacefully were a criminal act of destruction and murder.