Amid rising global pressure against its intensified crackdown on Tibetans, China on Wednesday claimed that over 660 pro-independence protesters had surrendered for their alleged role in the unrest which left 20 people dead, as it escorted foreign journalists to the riots-scarred Lhasa.
Police have released a list of 53 people wanted for the riots and announced on Monday that five suspects, including three women, had been detained for their role in burning 10 persons to death in two cases.
‘Deceived or coerced’
More than 280 people had turned themselves in to police in the Tibetan capital Lhasa, the official Xinhua news agency claimed.
“Most of those who have come forward are ordinary people and monks who were deceived or coerced (by the rioters),” Shu Tao, party chief of the village of Luoerda, where 63 people handed themselves in to police, said.
Scribes visit Lhasa
Partly breaking the barrier to reporting from Lhasa which had remained out of bounds to reporters, Chinese government flew a chosen few foreign journalists from Beijing to the Tibetan capital, 12 days after it was rocked by the worst riots in 20 years.