BEIJING (Reuters) - Chinese state media poured vitriol on the Dalai Lama on Saturday after riots rocked Tibet, accusing the exiled Buddhist leader of turning the regional capital Lhasa into a “land of terror”.
Xinhua news agency issued the denunciation of the Dalai Lama after protests in Lhasa turned violent on Friday, leading to the deaths of at least 10 innocent people, according to Tibet officials.
In language harsh even for Beijing’s frequent verbal attacks on Tibet’s spiritual leader, Xinhua’s English-language service accused the Dalai Lama of engineering the violence and accused foreign countries of abetting him.
“Now the blaze and blood in Lhasa has unclad the nature of the Dalai Lama, and it’s time for the international community to recheck their stance,” said the commentary, written in florid and sometimes ungrammatical English.
The Dalai Lama fled into exile in India after a failed uprising against Communist rule in 1959 and is branded by China as a “separatist”. He has said he only wants greater autonomy for Tibet.
China has long been angered by foreign governments and politicians who host the exiled Dalai Lama, most recently Germany and the United States, where he received a Congressional medal.
The commentary said other countries bore responsibility for the violence in Lhasa because of their support for the Dalai Lama.
“The Dalai Lama and his clique have never for a day refrained from violence and terror,” it said. “Continuous tolerance to violence undoubtedly means appeasement to terror.”
Reporting by Chris Buckley; Editing by Nick Macfie
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