China says Dalai Lama wants to hurt Olympics

'I saw hundreds of soldiers'
Despite the media restrictions, some information was leaking out on troop movements.

One American backpacker who traveled to Chengdu, capital of Sichuan province, said he had seen soldiers or paramilitary troops in Deqen in northwest Yunnan province, which borders Tibet.

"What was an empty parking lot by the library was full of military trucks and people practicing with shields. I saw hundreds of soldiers," said the witness, who would give only his first name Ralpha.

There have been no reported protests in Yunnan.

Xinhua issued several reports Sunday saying in addition to Gansu province, life was returning to normal in other areas where protests took place in the wake of the Lhasa riots.

"More than half of the shops on major streets were seen reopened for business" in Aba, the center of northern Aba county in Sichuan province, Xinhua said. It quoted local Communist Party chief Kang Qingwei as saying government departments and major enterprises were "running normally" and schools would reopen on Monday.

Aba is where Xinhua has said police shot and wounded four rioters in self-defense. It was the first time the government acknowledged shooting any protesters.

Though the European Union and the United States have so far said they opposed boycotting the Beijing games over the crackdown, an EU politician said in remarks published Saturday that European countries should not rule out threatening a boycott if violence continues.

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