Foreigners Leaving Tibet Tell of Fear, Violence

CHENGDU, China — Stories of persecution and violence trickled from Tibet on Sunday as foreigners began to make their way out of the Chinese-controlled region amid a government crackdown on Tibetan protesters.

"It was Orwellian," Andreas Larsen-Helms, 19, a Danish tourist, said of the scene in Lhasa, Tibet's capital. "There was just a massive military presence and everything was being watched."

Speaking in India, the exiled Tibetan spiritual leader, the Dalai Lama, said "cultural genocide" is taking place in his homeland. He called for an international investigation into China's actions in Tibet, but said that China still deserves to host the Olympics in August.

Tens of thousands of soldiers and police were sent to crush protests against Chinese rule in Tibet. An unknown number of people were killed during clashes between protesters and security forces.

State-run China Central Television said Sunday that most of Lhasa had been restored to order. The broadcast showed footage of deserted streets and burned-out buildings.

Tibet's government in exile said the death toll stood at 80, but could be higher. China bans foreign journalists from traveling to Tibet without permits and information has been difficult or impossible to confirm.

Meanwhile, violence continued to spread Sunday in Sichuan and other neighboring Chinese provinces with large ethnic Tibetan populations.

Foreign tourists arriving Sunday in Chengdu, a city in Sichuan province, said they heard from Tibetans that protesters and bystanders were killed by Chinese security forces. Travelers said that while in Lhasa they had been ordered to remain in their hotels since Friday, when several buildings were burned.

Mary Cannesta, a resident of Las Vegas who was in Lhasa with a tour group, said she heard "a lot of gunfire" between midnight and 2:30 a.m. on Saturday. During the day she said that she saw "a lot of smoke" coming from the city.

Larsen-Helms and three friends traveling in Lhasa said they saw a monastery surrounded by tanks and scores of soldiers.

Few Tibetans have been allowed to leave Lhasa and many reached by telephone have been unwilling to talk because of fears their phones could be monitored. Foreign tourists in Lhasa said they attempted to use hotel computers to access the Internet, but most Web sites carrying news about the unrest were blocked.

A senior Chinese government official in Tibet said on Saturday that security forces had not fired bullets to quell the violence. But foreign groups said Tibetans had been killed in fighting.

A press release by the exiled Tibetan government on Sunday said that "reliable sources" had confirmed that at least 80 people were killed in Lhasa on Friday.

One Westerner arriving in Chengdu said his Tibetan guide claimed to have seen a Tibetan girl who had been shot through the neck. The man asked that his name not be printed to protect the guide from persecution.

The Dalai Lama said the international community had a "moral responsibility" to remind China to be a good host for the Aug. 8-24 Olympic Games.

In the past the Dalai Lama, who wants more autonomy for Tibet, has criticized Chinese restrictions over Tibetan temples and policies by Beijing that encourage China's ethnic Han majority to move to Tibet.

Tourists said they were dismayed by China's actions in Tibet.

"The general focus in Denmark is that China is a rising economic power in the world," Larsen-Helms said. "What has really slipped people's minds is that it's also a communist dictatorship."

U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice issued a statement on Saturday urging Beijing to refrain from violence and "to respect the fundamental and universally recognized right of all of (China's) citizens to peacefully express their political and religious views."