Visitors recount Tibet violence, tell of troops

By John Ruwitch

CHENGDU, China (Reuters) - Lhasa is silent.

With troops and anti-riot vehicles the army has imposed control after a day of chaos and violence in the sun-soaked capital of the Chinese-controlled region of Tibet, normally bustling with tourists and Buddhist pilgrims.

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

"It looked like a ghost town."

Other foreign visitors said the same about Lhasa, which has been racked by the biggest protests in two decades. The government has announced 10 deaths.

On Friday afternoon, when the protests turned violent, the silver-haired Walle was walking with a guide near the world famous Potala Palace, the empty winter home of the Dalai Lama who has been living in exile since 1959 after a failed uprising.

The first sign of trouble was fire from the Tromsikhang market nearby, Walle said.

"I just saw a lot of fire and everybody was running and my guide told me: 'We've got to run.' So we ran," she said after her flight out touched down in the early afternoon in the southwestern city of Chengdu, the main point of entry for most people going into the Himalayan region.

"Then somebody put us in their house and closed the door. Later on we found a taxi, and the taxi didn't want to go to the place I stayed because there was fighting in the street. So he put us off on the road, and we had to run again.

"In the end it took me 1- hours to get to my hostel."

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

Foreign reporters are banned from Tibet, unless they have permission from the government. All foreigners need special permits to access the remote Himalayan region.

LOCK DOWN

On Friday afternoon, the authorities started to lock down the city, visitors said. Welle described troop lines blocking side streets.

Others said a lockdown was enforced for foreigners.