Tibetan Rebels Urged to Turn Selves In
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BEIJING — Authorities broadcast warnings Friday to Tibetan rebels to turn themselves in by March 20 or face punishment, according to a Western source in the Tibetan capital of Lhasa.
The source, a Tibetan-speaking traveler, said vans with loudspeakers were driving through the city every hour repeating the message.
Thousands of Tibetans demanding independence from China stoned police and set bonfires throughout Lhasa last Saturday in a day of violence triggered when one Buddhist monk stood up at a prayer festival and began shouting anti-Chinese slogans. Official reports said one Chinese police officer and one Tibetan were killed, but unofficial accounts said eight or more people died.
Police with machine guns, meanwhile, remained posted in front of the sprawling, white-washed Jokhang Temple and on the roofs of nearby buildings, Western tourists said. It was at the Jokhang Temple that last weekend’s riots began.
“They’re warning people to do their duty, report troublemakers. They’ll be rewarded if they give information,” the Tibetan-speaking traveler said in a telephone interview.
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