Tibetan monks accuse Beijing of lying over unrest

In an embarrassment for the Chinese government - according to Reuters, Tibetan monks stormed a news briefing at a temple in Lhasa on Thursday, accusing Chinese authorities of lying about recent unrest and saying the Dalai Lama had nothing to do with the violence.

The incident happened in front of a select group of foreign reporters in Lhasa, where chinese authorities were trying to convey the idea that a sense of stability has been restored since violence broke out on March 14.

Hong Kong’s TVB aired television footage of the bold outburst in front of the first foreign journalists allowed into Tibet since the violence, showing the monks in crimson robes, some weeping, crowded around cameras.

“They just don’t believe us. They think we will come out and cause havoc — smash, destroy, rob, burn. We didn’t do anything like that — they’re falsely accusing us,” said one monk. “We want freedom. They have detained lamas and normal people.”

Wang Che-nan, a cameraman for Taiwan’s ETTV, said the incident lasted about 15 minutes, after which unarmed police took the monks elsewhere in the temple, away from the journalists.

“They said: ‘Your time is up, time to go to the next place’,” Wang said.

On Wednesday, President George W. Bush encouraged Chinese President Hu Jintao to hold talks with the Dalai Lama.

Hu said China was willing to continue engaging in “contact and discussions” with the Dalai Lama, but he must renounce support for independence of the Himalayan region and Taiwan, and “stop inciting and planning violent and criminal activities and sabotaging the Beijing Olympics”, newspapers said on Thursday.