New Tibet protests reportedly break out

After the March 14 violence in Lhasa, protests spread across ethnic Tibetan areas in neighboring provinces in the most widespread challenge to communist rule since 1989.

Beijing says 22 people were killed in Lhasa, while Tibetan exiles put the overall death toll at 140.

Violence, unrest
The unrest was a public relations disaster for communist leaders, who want to use the Beijing Olympics to showcase China as a prosperous, stable society.

A group of foreign reporters was taken on a similar trip to Lhasa earlier in the week. That effort backfired when about 30 monks burst into a briefing room shouting that there was no religious freedom in Tibet.

On Saturday, the Chinese government said it would pay compensation for people killed in the rioting, give the injured free medical care and help repair damaged homes and businesses.

Families of 18 civilians killed will each receive $28,500, the Xinhua News Agency said, citing an announcement by the Tibet regional government.

Xinhua gave no indication whether there would be compensation for four other official deaths — one police officer and three people who the government says were fleeing arrest.

The government says 382 civilians and 241 police officers also were hurt.

The protests, led by monks, began peacefully March 10, on the anniversary of a failed 1959 uprising against Chinese rule. Tibet had been effectively independent for decades before Chinese communist troops entered in 1950.

On Saturday, the Dalai Lama accused Beijing of "demographic aggression" by encouraging settlers from China's ethnic Han majority to move to the sparsely Tibetan populated region.

He said the number of settlers in Tibet was expected to increase by more than 1 million following the Olympics, but did not say where he obtained such information.

"There is evidence the Chinese people in Tibet are increasing month by month," the Tibetan spiritual leader told reporters in New Delhi.

Lhasa has 100,000 Tibetans and twice as many outsiders, most from the Han majority, the Dalai Lama said.

European Union foreign ministers expressed "strong concern" Saturday about violence in Tibet, but skated around the issue of China's role in the unrest.

The ministers said after a two-day meeting in Slovenia, that they "will continue to pay close attention to the human rights situation in China." But they did not mention the Aug. 8-24 games or link China directly to the crackdown.

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