Dalai Lama Calls for International Action against China

Tibetans’ protest for independence from the Chinese rule triggered China’s violent crackdown, which led to a rising number of causalities. The international community is voicing concerns over the bloody situation in Tibet.

Speaking for the Tibetan exiled government in Dharmsala, the north Indian hill town, spokesman Thubten Sampel said that the continuing demonstrations, first erupted in Lhasa, has killed 80 people and injured some 72 people since Friday. He also argued that the figures were confirmed by multiple sources inside Tibet who had counted corpses.

The AFP quoted the exiled-government leader Karma Chonphel as saying that the casualties would reach a minimum of 1,000. The government also contended that more than 100 Tibetans were killed during protests according to a report yet to be confirmed.

The Dalai Lama, Tibet’s spiritual leader, said at a press conference in Dharmsala that the Chinese government is committing a cultural genocide in Tibet and is treating Tibetans as second-class citizens. He called for an international investigation on Sunday into China’s crackdown against protesters in Tibet.

China’s official Xinhua News Agency reported at least 10 civilians were burned to death on Friday and 12 police officers were injured severely with two of them in critical condition.

China declared a "people’s war" of security and propaganda against support for the Dalai Lama in an emergency meeting held in the Saturday afternoon in a Tibetan-populated district in southwest China.

The Gansu provincial authorities issued a public statement on Saturday, urging the Tibetan protesters to stop committing crimes and surrendering themselves by midnight today. They promised in the statement leniency for those who turn themselves in.

Gansu provincial Governor Xu Shousheng said at the Saturday press conference that Lhasa was not under martial law and that Chinese forces also did not fire live ammunition to the demonstrators. Instead, he called the protests "a planned and organized destructive activity" and blamed the "outside Dalai group" for instigating the riots.

orionha@donga.com zsh75@donga.com