China issues 'most wanted' list of suspected rioters
China issues 'most wanted' of 21 suspected rioters.
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Saturday, 22, Mar 2008 07:46
The Chinese government has issued a list of 21 rioters suspected of involvement in last week's violent demonstrations in the Tibetan capital of Lhasa.
Pictures of the protestors armed with knives have been issued by the Public Security Bureau of Lhasa, as the Chinese quelling of anti-China sentiment continues.
According to the Xinhua news agency, two of the 21 suspects - one of whom is pictured wielding a sword - have been arrested while a third has turned himself into police.
The Communist Party's newspaper People's Daily said the penalties for those involved in the riots should be harsh.
"China must resolutely crush the conspiracy of sabotage and smash 'Tibet independence forces'," an editorial said on Saturday.
The news comes after China raised the death toll of people killed in the riots to 19, with one police officer named among the victims.
However Tibetan exiles claim more than 100 people have lost their lives in the unrest which began in Lhasa on March 10th and spread through the neighbouring areas of Gansu, Sichuan and Qinghai provinces.
The Chinese authorities have laid the blame for the violence at the feet of the Dalai Lama, the sspiritual head of the Tibetan people, an accusation his spokesman labelled "baseless".
The Dalai Lama has called for an international inquiry into the unrest and said he is seeking to travel to Beijing for talks with Chinese representatives.
Anti-Chinese chants were heard outside the Chinese embassy in London on Saturday as protestors marched from Regent's Park to Trafalgar Square to demonstrate against the regime's handling of the Tibetan situation.
On Friday, Nancy Pelosi, the speaker of the US House of Representatives, called for greater freedom of information regarding the Tibetan riots.
"If freedom loving people throughout the world do not speak out against China's oppression in China and Tibet, we have lost all moral authority to speak on behalf of human rights anywhere in the world," she added.