By KUNA
Tokyo : Several people were injured and shops burned in clashes in Tibet’s capital of Lhasa on Friday, China’s official news agency Xinhua reported, citing witnesses. “There are a number of injuries resulted from the riots,” the agency said, without giving details about the clashes.
The Chinese Foreign Ministry on Thursday accused the Buddhist monks of collaborating with supporters of the exiled Tibetan spiritual leader, the Dalai Lama, to achieve Tibet’s independence, Xinhua said. The ministry also blamed the Dalai Lama for the protests that began on Monday, the 49th anniversary of Tibetan National Uprising Day, calling the protests a deliberate political plot of the Dalai Lama group to cause social unrest and to separate Tibet from China.
According to the International Campaign for Tibet, conditions are increasingly tense within the three major monasteries in Lhasa, which are under lockdown and surrounded by Chinese troops following peaceful demonstrations over the last three days by hundreds of monks.
Tibetan monks have staged a series of pro-independence protests this week. The protests began on Mar 10, with more than 100 monks seeking the release of imprisoned colleagues arrested after demonstrations to mark a major award for the Dalai Lama, the Congressional Gold Medal, last October. China has been ruling the Buddhist region since 1951, but many Tibetans seek independence or greater autonomy.