Tibetan monk protest in Lhasa draws China's ire

By Ben Blanchard

BEIJING (Reuters) - Tibetan monks have defied Chinese authorities by staging a protest in the remote Himalayan region's capital Lhasa, provoking Beijing to respond that it would strike hard against such illegal activities.

Tibetans all over the world took to the streets on Monday to commemorate the 49th anniversary of an uprising against Chinese rule and to press their demand for independence as attention on Beijing increases ahead of the Olympics in August.

"Yesterday afternoon in Lhasa city there were monks from some temples who, under the instigation and encouragement of a small group of people, carried out an illegal activity that threatened social stability," Foreign Ministry spokesman Qin Gang said.

"Related departments dealt with them in accordance with the law," he told a news conference, declining to elaborate on their fate.

"We will continue to maintain social stability in accordance with the law and strike hard against all illegal, criminal activities."

U.S. government-funded Radio Free Asia cited a source as saying at least 300 monks marched from a monastery outside Lhasa to demand the release of monks detained last year after the Dalai Lama was awarded a Congressional medal in the United States.

"Authorities at a checkpoint along the way stopped and detained between 50 and 60 monks," the report paraphrased the source as saying.

"Witnesses reported seeing about 10 military vehicles, 10 police vehicles and several ambulances at the checkpoint. No information was immediately available on where the monks were taken or why ambulances were summoned," it added.

Another witness reported that official vehicles then blocked off access by road to Drepung monastery, and that many monasteries in and around Lhasa were surrounded by members of the paramilitary People's Armed Police, the report said.

Qin, who repeated the government's standard line that Tibet had always been part of China, said the government took a dim view of such activities.

"Guaranteeing the country's security and social stability is of the utmost importance to China and the responsibility of the legal authorities," he said.

The official Xinhua news agency quoted Tibet's governor, Qiangba Puncog, as saying the monks were "persuaded to leave".

"To prevent unnecessary disturbances from happening, we did some persuasion and they all left in peace," he added.

The protest coincided with demonstrations in India, Nepal and Greece.

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