New violence reported in Tibet
Shops burned and police vehicles were vandalized. U.S. Embassy urges Americans to stay away from the capital.
BEIJING - Tibet was hit by a fresh wave of violence today amid reports of stepped-up protests by hundreds of monks and citizens as shops burned and police vehicles were vandalized.
American citizens in Lhasa, the capital of Tibet, reported rioting and gunfire, said the U.S. Embassy in Beijing as it warned Americans to stay away from the city, which has seen several days of anti-Chinese protests.
"All care should be taken to avoid unnecessary movement within the city until the situation is under control," the alert said. "Americans who were planning on travel to Tibet are advised to defer travel at this time."
But analysts said Beijing, having watched and advised Burma on its recent crackdown of Buddhist monks, has been sparing in its use of extreme force, with a greater eye on how its actions are perceived.
"I can imagine they were motivated by a desire to avoid a Burma scenario," said Robert Barnett, a professor at Columbia University. "They've tried not to let the lay people see the monks being beaten by police."
Tibet is among the most tightly controlled areas in China. Protests first flared on March 10, when monks took to the streets to mark the anniversary of a 1959 Tibetan uprising against Chinese rule.
Beijing is nervous about challenges to its single-party rule at a time when it is under growing global scrutiny for its human rights record ahead of the Beijing Olympics, which begin Aug. 8. Communist Chinese troops seized control of Tibet in 1951.
"There's smoke and flames coming from the old city, but I can't tell what's going on since soldiers have surrounded the area," said one Lhasa resident by telephone who declined to be identified amid fear of repercussions.
A tour guide surnamed Zhu who wouldn't give his first name, said today there was a police and military crackdown underway, particularly in the area around Jokhang Monastery, a holy site in the heart of Lhasa. He added that he could see dozens of military vehicles including armored cars.
But a woman who answered the Lhasa tourism hotline sought to downplay any trouble. "It's calming down and should improve soon," she said.
CNN and BBC television reports were blocked inside China today, while telephone links to Tibet appeared spotty, particularly to numbers in Lhasa's heavily ethnic-Tibetan neighborhood of Jokhang.
Reporters with the Chinese-controlled media in Tibet and in Beijing said they were under tight restrictions. "This is very dangerous to report on," said one reporter.
