China puts security troops in Lhasa

Press, 7 October 1987, Page 10

China puts security troops in Lhasa

NZPA-AP Lhasa China flew security troops into Lhasa yesterday and blocked roads leading to Buddhist monasteries after monks led Tibetan independence protests that left at least 14 people dead. Onlookers said the police arrested and beat monks after last week’s demonstrations, and high-ranking monks in Lhasa appealed yesterday for world support. "The Chinese have ruled violently in our country and we want them to leave Tibet,” said a two-page statement that the monks distributed to tourists. “We ask the United Nations and all the countries of the world to please support our true cause. We are suffering.” The statement said: "The-Chinese have; taken away Tibetan human rights for the’ last 30 years. We Tibetans have the

Dalai Lama in our mind and he’s our leader forever.” The Dalal Lama was Tibet’s civil and religious leader until China annexed the remote Himalayan region in 1950, enforcing a centuries-old territorial claim. The Dalai Lama fled in 1959: after a failed uprising by his supporters and has since lived in India. " -i ' In Washington, the State Department condemned last week’s violence, called* for restraint and reiterated the United States view that Tibet is part of China. At the United Nations, Francois Giuliani, a spokesman for the SecretaryGeneral, Javier Perez de Cuellar, said the Secretariat did not have any communication from the Tibetans and he did not know If one had been sent Yuan Shibing, counsellor at the Chinese mission to the United Nations, said he was unaware of 35 Tibetan, message to the world body. 4 s “This matter in Tibet is totally an internal affair of China,” he said in an interview. “It is hot the concern of any international organisation.” . Dozens of monks and lay: people reportedly have been arrested since the protests began, but no official total was available. . ' ..