China gives Tibetan protesters surrender ultimatum

By Chris Buckley and Benjamin Kang Lim

BEIJING (Reuters) - China on Saturday gave Tibetan independence
protesters an ultimatum to surrender after riots in Lhasa which killed
at least 10 people in the worst unrest in the region for two decades.

The tough response by the Chinese authorities came after fierce
protests on Friday which contradicted China's claims of stability and
tarnished a carefully-nurtured image of national harmony as it readies
to stage the Olympic Games in August.

The official Tibetan judicial authorities gave protesters until Monday night to turn themselves in and benefit from leniency.

"Criminals who do not surrender themselves by the deadline will be
sternly punished according to the law," said a notice on the Tibetan
government Web site (www.tibet.gov.cn).

International pressure mounted on Beijing to show restraint.
Australia, the United States and Europe urged the Chinese authorities
to find a peaceful outcome, while Taiwan, which China claims as its
own, predictably condemned Beijing for launching a crackdown.

Xinhua news agency said 10 "innocent civilians" had been shot or
burnt to death in the street clashes in the remote, mountain capital
which has been sealed off. The dead included two people killed by
shotguns.

A source close to the Tibetan government-in-exile, however,
questioned the official death toll of 10. He said at least five Tibetan
protesters had been shot dead by troops.

Some Tibet monitoring organizations outside the country put the death toll at up to 32.

A Western tourist said that Lhasa itself was like a ghost town on
Saturday, though it was packed with Chinese soldiers. Many Tibetans had
tied white prayer scarves to their doors in a gesture of protest.

DALA LAMA ACCUSED

China has accused followers of Tibet's exiled spiritual leader, the
Dalai Lama, of engineering the unrest in the run-up to the Beijing
Olympics. The Olympic torch relay will pass through Tibet in a few
weeks time.

The riots emerged from a volatile mix of pre-Olympics protests,
diplomatic friction over Tibet and local discontent with the harsh ways
of the region's Communist Party leadership.

The protests, the worst since 1989 in the disputed region, have
thrust China's role as Olympic host and its policy towards Tibet back
into the international spotlight.

A rash of angry blog posts appeared after the deaths were confirmed.
Hollywood actor Richard Gere, a Buddhist and an activist for Tibetan
causes, suggested an Olympic boycott.

Official statements suggested the government reaction in coming days
would be tough, with Tibetan Buddhist monasteries -- traditional focal
point of opposition to Beijing's rule -- and nunneries being brought
under tighter control.

The regional communist-controlled government said those who harbored
protesters would be punished and it offered rewards and protection to
informers.

An announcement on Tibet television urged residents to denounce the "malicious intent" of the Dalai Lama.

Tibetan crowds in the remote mountain city attacked government
offices, burnt vehicles and shops and threw stones at police in
Friday's confrontations. Many people were injured.

Chinese television showed footage of rioters trashing shops and
trying to break down the entrance of a bank, and plumes of smoke
floating above the city.

A Reuters picture showed a protester setting afire a Chinese
national flag. Another depicted security personnel shielding themselves
against rocks hurled by protesters.

Qiangba Puncog, the top government official in Tibet, told reporters
in Beijing that Tibetan authorities had not fired any shots to quell
the violence.

PRAYER SCARVES

John Ackerly, of the International Campaign for Tibet, said in an
e-mailed statement he feared "hundreds of Tibetans have been arrested
and are being interrogated and tortured".

The Free Tibet Campaign organization cited eyewitnesses as saying
that thousands marched on government buildings in Xiahe, an ethnic
Tibetan area of China, and raised a Tibetan national flag at a school.

In Lhasa, Danish tourist Bente Walle, 58, said: "Today Lhasa is completely closed and there is Chinese military all over."

Adding that many people were tying white prayer scarves on doors,
she said: "The Tibetans put them on their doors to tell everybody: here
is a Tibetan."

"We are fully capable of maintaining the social stability of Tibet,"
Xinhua quoted an official as saying in a statement repeated across
Chinese state media on Saturday.

(Additional reporting by Guo Shipeng, Nick Mulvenney, Ben Blanchard
and Lindsay Beck in Beijing, John Ruwitch in Chengdu and Sophie Taylor
in Shanghai)

(Editing by Richard Balmforth)