Beijing's Tibetans watched and grilled after riots

BEIJING (Reuters) - Thousands of ethnic Tibetans who work or study in Beijing, an economic boomtown compared with back home, are laying low in the face of police checks after recent riots and protests in southwestern China.

Since mid-March, when deadly riots in Lhasa spread to dissent in other Tibetan communities against the Chinese government, emigres in the capital have been dogged by police and taken anonymous calls seeking information, they say.

"It's a sensitive topic, and I really can't talk about it much," said Bo-er, a Tibetan who opened a handicrafts shop on a popular downtown pedestrian street last year. "We're in business, and business is what we've got to do."

China has poured troops into Tibetan regions to enforce calm following clashes that the government says killed 19 people and Tibetan authorities in exile say could have left up to 140 dead.

Surveillance of Beijing's Tibetans, who often come to escape rural poverty but privately sympathize with the Dalai Lama, the spiritual leader the government blames for the riots, shows that Beijing thinks they harbor secrets about possible plans for more protests.

"Quite clearly the Chinese police are calling around the Tibetan community, trying to gain information or get them to say the wrong things," said a foreign-born author who knows Tibetans throughout China.

"Tibetans are here but keeping their heads down," he said. "But some of them are OK, just under heavy police presence."

Some Tibetans, including students, service workers and performing artists in Beijing, have received anonymous calls, seeking information about any activities at home, according to people close to them.

Police have nosed into Bo-er's shop -- which employs his two sisters from Tibet's third-largest city in selling music VCDs and miniature prayer wheels to eager Chinese tourists -- asking how they've been since the protests and riots.