Tibet: China accused of shooting protesters

The Dalai Lama has accused Chinese authorities in Tibet of opening fire on unarmed protesters, and alleged that at least 400 people had been killed since March, according to an August 22 AFP report.

"The Chinese army again fired on a crowd on Monday August 18, in the Kham region in eastern Tibet", the Dala Lama was quoted as saying. "Definitely, Chinese security forces were firing (at protesters)".

"We have been told that there have been casualties but we are not able to verify what casualties means, whether people have been killed or whether they have been injured", he added.

He also claimed that "reliable witnesses say that 400 people have been killed in the region of (the Tibetan capital) Lhasa alone".

"Killed by bullets, even though they were protesting without weapons. Their bodies were never given back to their families. If you consider the whole of Tibet, the number of victims is obviously higher."

He also alleged that more than 10,000 people have been arrested, and stated that "We don't know where they are imprisoned".

The Dalai Lama alleged that "A project of long-term brutal repression is under way", pointing to a "frenzy" of new military camps being built in the Amdo and Kham regions.

While China accuses the theocratic Dalai Lama who lives in India of being behind the pro-independence struggle, he insists he merely supports "autonomy".

From GLW issue 764