New Tibet protests reportedly break out

updated 8:02 p.m. ET March 29, 2008

BEIJING - New protests broke out in the Tibetan capital Lhasa on Saturday as foreign diplomats wrapped up a tightly controlled visit organized by Beijing, a radio broadcaster and Tibetan activists reported.

A protest began Saturday afternoon at Lhasa's Ramoche monastery and grew to involve "many people," said Kate Saunders of the Washington-based International Campaign for Tibet.

Citing unnamed witnesses in the city, Saunders said the situation calmed down after a few hours. She had no information on injuries or arrests.

People also protested at the Jokhang Temple, a major Buddhist site in Lhasa, the government-in-exile of the Tibetan Buddhist leader, the Dalai Lama, said on its Web site. The India-based government gave no other details.

Several hundred people took part in the protests, the U.S.-funded broadcaster Radio Free Asia reported.

The Ramoche and Jokhang monasteries and other sites were sealed off by security forces, Saunders said. Ramoche was the original site of protests that spread earlier this month and led to a crackdown by the Chinese government.

The reports of new protests came as a 15-member group of diplomats from the United States, Japan and Europe returned to Beijing after a two-day visit to Lhasa.

The descriptions of new protests could not be independently confirmed and China issued no immediate response.

An American Embassy spokeswoman said she had no information on any protests. A Japanese diplomat, Mitsuhiro Wada, said, "No," when asked at the Beijing airport whether he saw any protests.

The diplomats' plane left Lhasa at about 1 p.m., according to the U.S. Embassy, an hour before the reported start of the protest at the Ramoche monastery.

Beijing is trying to enforce calm in Tibet and buttress its claim that the most violent anti-Chinese protests since 1989 were incited by forces linked to the Dalai Lama.

Delegation tour restricted
Diplomats toured damaged areas of Lhasa and met people selected by Chinese authorities, who accompanied them at all times, the American Embassy said in a brief statement.

"The delegation was not permitted to move about independently in Lhasa, and was unable to hold unsupervised conversations with local residents," the statement said.

The statement gave no other details but repeated Washington's appeal to China to show restraint.

The British Embassy and the European Union mission in Beijing had no immediate comment.

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