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Dalai Lama: China causing 'cultural genocide'

19:15 CDT -- 16 March 2008

Dalai Lama: China causing 'cultural genocide'

(CNN) -- The Dalai Lama on Sunday called for an international probe of China's treatment of Tibet, which he said is causing "cultural genocide" of his people.

The exiled spiritual leader of Tibet spoke at a news conference Sunday in Dharamsala, India, two days after violent clashes between pro-autonomy demonstrators and Chinese security forces in Lhasa, the Tibetan capital.

A spokesman for the self-declared Tibetan exile government said it has confirmed at least 80 deaths in Friday's violence and that protests were continuing outside the capital Sunday, further undermining China's hopes of a smooth run-up to the 2008 Beijing Olympics. Tibet Watch, a group based in Dharamsala, India, said 34 people have died in the Nwaga County area of Sichuan province in western China.

The dead include women and children, the group said in an e-mail, adding they were killed by Chinese police attempting to stop the protests. Eight bodies were brought to the Nagaba Kirti monastery, the Tibetan Center for Human Rights and Democracy in Dharamsala said. Of the eight, two are the bodies of monks, the center said.

The streets of Lhasa were silent and deserted Sunday night, a contrast to the violent protests of days earlier. Chinese paramilitary troops and riot police were patrolling, and shots could be heard from time to time, according to James Miles, a reporter for The Economist in Lhasa.

"People are now too afraid to come out of their homes," Miles said. "People are afraid to go about their normal business." Residents were worried about encountering roving patrols or being shot, he said. Even if people ventured out to shop, most markets have been ransacked, he said.

"People are going to start running out of food pretty soon. They're going to need essential supplies," Miles said...

-- Source/continues: http://edition.cnn.com/2008/WORLD/asiapcf/03/16/tibet.unrest/index.html